The history of caviar consumption

So, before we started talking about caviar, sturgeon was far more interesting than it’s eggs!

A few historical facts. The earliest evidence of the word “caviar” can be found in 850, in the 9th century. It is said to stem from the Turkish word “khavyar” meaning fish roe. The Persians believed it stimulated endurance and used it as a food with a thousand virtues. But in the centuries that followed, caviar was no longer mentioned.

The word “caviar” first reappeared in 1458 in a treatise by Platina, steward to Pope Pius II, who gave recipes for preparing it. In Cervantes’ Don Quixote, a traveling monk praises the rarity and flavor of pressed caviar.

It was in 1553, when Rabelais wrote Gargantua et Pantagruel, that the current spelling “caviar” appeared.

It wasn’t until the 16th century that caviar consumption took off in Europe and Russia, mainly around the Caspian and Black Seas. The Russians reconquered the banks of the Volga, previously under Mongol domination, giving them access to the Caspian Sea.

To show their gratitude to the Cossacks, a warrior caste, for fighting alongside them, the Russians let them guard the new borders and run the region’s fisheries. In exchange, the Cossacks had to pay only a symbolic tribute: A few furs and some caviar, which at the time was of little value.

It was then that the first Romanovs began to appreciate this commodity. To such an extent that in 1675, Czar Alexis 1st declared caviar an imperial monopoly. Caviar made its way to the Russian court. It became a favored delicacy of Russia’s first czars, and gained a reputation as a rare and luxurious food.

As Russia gradually opened up to trade, exports began. At the time, only pressed caviar was exchanged, a product that didn’t appeal to everyone! This was particularly true of Louis XV, who spat out his first spoonful with disgust on the floor of Versailles, in front of the Czar’s ambassador, in 1723.

Due to transport difficulties, it was almost impossible to receive fresh caviar in Europe. It then becomes a mythical delicacy, evoked in travel tales.

The industrial revolution of the 19th century finally brought fresh caviar to European tables. Industrial ice, railroads and modern methods of preservation led to gradual worldwide distribution. It was at this time that granulated caviar and Malossol caviar appeared.

At the same time, France became the preferred destination for wealthy Russians. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, a “Russophile wave” swept across the country. From that moment on, a real caviar craze developed in France, a country considered at the time to be the ultimate reference in terms of fine taste.

It was then that caviar became the most sought-after delicacy in the world, an absolute symbol of luxury.

Did you know? Traces of the word caviar can also be found in Shakespeare, who highlights the rarity of this delicacy in the play Hamlet by saying, to designate something that the average person doesn’t understand or appreciate: “…. Twas caviar for the general”.