November 14, 2014 — Beluga caviar from the Caspian Sea has long been regarded as the gold standard, which has had unfortunate consequences for sturgeon. Because of mankind’s longstanding and voracious appetite for caviar, enthusiastic overfishing of both Atlantic and European sturgeon caused the worldwide population to plummet. Both species are now critically endangered, and in most countries, it’s illegal to fish for either of them.
Perhaps because it’s now doubly rarified—not only is it illegal to produce, but it’s also illegal to bring into much of the Western world because of US and European sanctions against Iran—wild-caught Caspian Sea caviar has acquired a reputation for being the best that money can buy (and you need a lot of money to buy it: back in 2005, before the US enacted a ban on all imports of beluga caviar, a kilogram of the stuff fetched about $12,000). But not all caviar connoisseurs give a fuck about it.
“There’s no reason to consider Iranian caviar the best,” said Robert Gardner, the president of and self-appointed “caviar concierge” at American Caviar Company, which sells both wild-caught and farm-raised caviar online and at its New York City store. “Maybe people feel that way because historically, that’s the reputation it’s had. Or maybe it’s that special flavor that all the motor oil gives it,” Gardner joked, referring to the high levels of pollution in the Caspian Sea.
In Gardner’s opinion, most people who buy caviar have no idea how it’s supposed to taste, but they purchase beluga because they’ve been told that it’s good.
“It’s kind of like, if you’re a man, and you put on a Ralph Lauren suit. You’re all like, ‘Ooooh, I’m wearing a Ralph Lauren.’ But you know what? Ralph Lauren is crap!” he said. “It’s the same thing with beluga caviar. Beluga became all, ‘Oh my God.’ But people don’t know what the hell beluga is.”