Talk:Caviar

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[edit] Miscelaneous

How about some mention of the milder caviar varieties eaten regularly on bread in Sweden, such as Kalles? --193.11.222.179 13:41, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

How about a mention of the current embargo on all trade of wild sturgeon caviar? 23:22, 3 January 2006 (UTC)

I once heard of one kind of caviar known as "Almas/Almaz" (not sure on the spelling) which comes from an albino sturgeon in the Caspian. Guinness world records 2007 said it is the most expensive in the world. Any more info?74.96.212.21 23:50, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

I did add a short paragraph on this, from my reading of the article I found, the ban is temporary right now, with the understanding that it will be permanent unless the countries involved come up with a good reply. If you can find a clearer source, or more news comes out, feel free to update it. Cheers, MartinRe 22:59, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

I have heard that the Sterlet is not actually extinct, but the species exists only as two isolated populations in the Volga river and another river system. Can anyone gather more information as to the status of the Sterlet? 10:35, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Hmmmm. 4 oz. of Beluga is $30 here in Azerbijan. It's not universally extremely expensive. Dobbs 17:29, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Caviar and vegetarianism

The article claims that caviar is not vegetarian but since non-vegan vegetarian's eat eggs, and caviar is fish eggs then I would think caviar in and of itself would be non-vegan vegetarian objections by vegetarian based on cruelty to the fish objections related to the most popular means of harvesting the eggs. I think the reason why it's not considered vegetarian should be mentioned. --Cab88 17:53, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Chickens aren't killed when their eggs are harvested, while sturgeons are.--66.32.233.224 12:06, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
Interesting. Many who consider themselves vegetarians drink milk produced on a commerical scale. Such milk is only possible through continual breeding for beef (or even veal) production. Dainamo 15:00, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
Making the best of a bad situation, I suppose. A lot of people who don't approve of unmarried sex still enjoy nonsimulated porn. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.122.208.51 (talk) 14:36, 8 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Caviar production in California

I changed "southern California" to "California". I live in CA state and most of our sturgeon farms is in Northern CA and not Southern CA. Stolt Sea Farm's sturgeon operation is by Sacramento [1]. White Sturgeon is also native here in CA, known as the Pacific sturgeon, Sacramento sturgeon, & California white sturgeon. -- Adeptitus 17:32, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology of the word "caviar"

The article states:

The word "caviar" derives from the Persian word خاگ‌آور (Khāg-āvar), meaning "the roe-generator".

However, I've seen other sources, including Merriam-Webster Online [2], trace the origin to the Turkish word havyar. It may be that havyar has a Farsi antecedent, or perhaps not.

The article refers to khag-avar, which it translates as "roe-generator"; but this source [3] also mentions the word chav-jar, which it translates to "cake of power" (ancient Persians used to eat it in stick form as a kind of elixir).

I am going to update the article to reflect these possible etymologies. Maybe someone more knowledgable about Farsi, Turkish and eastern languages can weigh in.

guanubian 19:48, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Caviar vs. Roe

I still lack to catch the exact diference between caviar and roe. Is the point in its color (black vs. other), cooking/salting or something else? --Koryakov Yuri 22:51, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the processing makes it Caviar. AFAIK, Roe is a generic term for the eggs of any fish. chavo 14:19, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Odd Statement RE: Prohibition

The article states: "During the Prohibition, caviar were smuggled in special cases shaped to fit in boots to aid the smuggling." I cannot find any mention of Caviar being banned during prohibition. I think that statement needs a citation. chavo 14:16, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

reply: you make it sound like your talking about the alchohol prohibition days in the US. that is not the only time things have been prohibited. bans on specific types of caviar have existed for years and are even now still in place for some of the species that are near extinction. perhaps the statement is poorly worded and should have said "during caviar prohibition" which comes and goes and evolves over the years. there isn't just "one" prohibition. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.128.110.225 (talk) 21:49, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Cost

Why is caviar so expensive?

reply: numerous reasons
1. difficulty and quantity of harvesting, you only get a very small amount of it per fish. you get far more poundage of meat. the ratio is something like a few ounces of roe for potential caviar out of a 100 pounds of fish
2. only half the fish harvested have the potential for roe (it can only come from the female)
3. they have to be quite old to produce enough quality roe to be useful (10-20 year old females)
4. they cannot be fertalized or about ready to spawn (eggs deteriorate into unusable texture during mating)
5. not all species of fish have roe that tastes good enough to eat, many of the more common fish harvested for eating, are not used for caviar. or even more widespread is that they are simply harvested too young to produce edible roe.
6. there is actually a very wide range of prices. when people talk about the expensive ones ($100 and up per ounce) they often don't bother to mention that there are some which sell for $5 an ounce
7. they kill the fish to harvest the roe, which means they eventually deplete the number of 10-20 year old females available even if the fish being harvested isnt on the endangered species list
8. caviar is often considered an elitist delicacy, even though in past centurys it wasnt that big a deal. but what you find is that if you tell a rich person something is going extinct, they often want to eat it. some of the most expensive caviars are simply because some rich guy wants to eat the last of a species when there is almost none of that specific type of fish left on the planet
9. there isn't even that much demand for low price caviar; give an average person caviar and you'll find many people don't even like it. which is why you don't see large scale farming operations trying to maximize cultivation, they would rather harvest the rarist almost extinct fish and sell it to the stupid rich people who think paying $100 an ounce for something that tastes like salty snot makes them special —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.128.110.225 (talk) 21:32, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Caviar in 1800's America

On the radio (NPR?) it said that caviar from 1800's American fishing grounds was so cheap and plentiful that it was served for free in coastal bars like peanuts are today. Can anyone verify this statement? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Septagram (talk • contribs) 03:13, 30 March 2007 (UTC).

reply: it wouldnt suprise me, considering how much our oceans have been depleted in the past 200 years by commercial fishing operations there simply arent that many "old" fish anymore producing caviar in the quantitys that would have been available in the past. its much like reading about lobster back in the days of the settlers: it was once called beach rats, because all you had to do was walk down the beach and scoop them up, it was considered cheap peasent food and fed to slaves and servents


people with money dont want things until they think its rare and by than, its more expensive

[edit] Caviar Pizza

Fresh Caviar Pizza?

Yes, you too can now feast on this specialty gourmet food for over $1,000.00 USD for a whole pizza in a New York restaurant.

Too high for your budget? You want to give it a try and see what all the buzz is about?

Now you can make your own caviar pizza at home within a fraction of the price!

Simply mail order some premium black caviar and red caviar online at [4] and top your pizza and enjoy. Gourmet food with prefferances customized by you! Mix up the flavor with a wide selection of caviar. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.231.144.243 (talk) 07:31, 18 April 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Image

Hello people! This article urgently needs a good image of proper Caviar (that is Caspian Sturgeon Roe)! The Ogre 10:24, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Done! The Ogre 16:13, 7 June 2007 (UTC)


I dunno. I have often wondered about the difference between salmon roe (on sushi) and caviar. I think having all of these different types is either enlightening or misleading, but not unnecessary. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.61.59.77 (talk) 05:44, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Images

Do we really need 5 pictures of caviar on one page? The page isn't even that large, it looks very overpowering. I'm sure one or 2 images is all that is needed.Ray harris1989 13:46, 30 June 2007 (UTC) Important thing is that it is not caviar - it is row of some other fish, colored artificially! Check the writings on the cans. Or is it a promo of some brand?

  • Well, no, it's caviar -- as the article says, caviar isn't exclusively sturgeon roe. In this case, the picture is of six different products from the "Tsar Nicoulai" caviar company in California.[5] Good stuff, incidentally; they concentrate on sustainable sturgeon, but also do tasty roe from other fish. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 00:28, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Russia and other Eastern cultures

Is the Russian culture really considered Eastern? I mean the most of Russia geographically belongs to Asia, but the coutry started its history as a European state, and took a lot of influence from the West. So now it is somewhere in the middle - the amalgam of two cultures. So I guess the sentence should be corrected somehow.

[edit] Caviar in Islam

I thought it was interesting that the author of this article chose to group all Islamic Hallal (Halal) regulations in a single line "In Islam all sea or river animals such as fish are lawful and halal." This is obviously not the case and it should be noted that Muslims of the Shi'ite sect (not all) have guidelines that prevent them from eating fish that do not have scales. It should be noted that in iran, the roe is considered a type of egg product and that the fish itself is seldomely eaten due to Islamic restrictions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shadowpoet (talk • contribs) 21:46, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] production details

I recently heard that caviar is produced in an inhumane way. The article seems to support this idea, saying the fish are clubbed (stunned) and then the ovaries are "extracted". The article doesn't mention how the extraction takes place or how eviscerated fish is treated. I was told that they are simply tossed back to die, and, I guess, economically that might make sense. Anyone have details? — gogobera (talk) 22:50, 25 April 2008 (UTC)