The demand for its eggs almost made the beluga sturgeon extinct. Even now, when most caviar comes from farms, eating it is controversial. So why do so many restaurants refuse to give it up?
There are some words that are impossible to say without sounding fancy. “Caviar” is one of them. It’s the hallmark of fine dining; the crown jewel of a canape; one of the last few foods that, in a world of lobster baps and truffle mash, remain flashy. When the Sous Chef website looked at the UK’s two- and three-Michelin-starred restaurants this month, it found that caviar featured on 72% of the menus.
Yet there is no denying caviar has an image problem. Until just a few decades ago, fishermen would haul beluga sturgeon out of the Caspian and Black seas, cut out the “roe sacks” that held their eggs, and throw the fish back in to die. As a result, sturgeon became critically endangered. The international trade in wild sturgeon from the region has been banned since 2006, and although there are a growing number of sturgeon farms around the world that attempt to make the process more sustainable, the methods used to extract the eggs, and the morality of dedicating valuable resources toward producing this symbol of luxury, mean the ethics of caviar remain vague.
Continue reading...from Lifestyle | The Guardian https://ift.tt/32nihfQ