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| News & Scoreboards |
The Long and Winding Roe
Mark Berniker
07/01/2004
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This may not constitute a crisis of epic proportions, but cocktail parties
have just not been the same since late April. That was when the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service put beluga sturgeon on the threatened species list and banned
imports of its viscous black pearls, the world’s finest caviar. While the
Russians are apparently the main culprits in fishing out the Caspian Sea’s most
valuable treasure, an unlikely ally has emerged to save discerning palates from
deprivation: Iran, which has diligently prevented overfishing in its Caspian
sturgeon hatcheries.
 Although the United States still has no official
diplomatic relations with Iran, our government cracked a window in its embargo
on Iranian goods in late 2000, opening the docks to Persian rugs and food,
including ossetra caviar. Although not as widely known as beluga, the opaque,
golden-gray ossetra roe has the taste of “the sea kissing your tongue,”
according to Mark Federman, whose family has run Russ and Daughters gourmet shop
on Manhattan’s Lower East Side for generations. He charges $349 for a 7-ounce
tin of ossetra.
Even before the beluga sturgeon was placed on the endangered
species list, Federman and other retailers, caviar importers and chefs had
decided to eschew the $1,500-per-pound caviar, the world’s most expensive,
responding to environmentalists concerned about the fate of the sturgeon. And
beluga, which is still available in certain parts of Europe and Asia, is not
necessarily the best caviar, claims Federman.
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