"caviar" news and stories

I can't claim credit for it, but by far the best New Year's resolution I've ever heard is "Drink more champagne." It flies in the face of the conventional model of resolutions, which entails discipline at best and deprivation at worst. When food and booze are involved in resolutions, "less" is typically the operative word.

For the second year running, I plan to include the word "more" in my resolutions, or at least the spirit of the word. I hardly have to tell myself to drink more champagne, but I could remind myself to seek out caviar more frequently, for instance, or to order that appetizer of pâté de campagne whenever it's on offer. Or I might resolve to develop my taste for Scotch, invest in crystal stemware, or host a bacchanal every month.

This is all sounding pretty highbrow so far, but it doesn't have to be. "Eat more fried shrimp/potatoes/okra/chicken" would work. So would "Never run out of PBR." Milkshakes, McDonald's fries, cream pies, waffles, mozzarella sticks...Plenty of inexpensive food is plenty decadent.

Are you sold yet? If so, what's your indulgent resolution?

If you've ever looked at one of those expensive containers of caviar and sighed -- have no fear! As Serious Eats points out, Ikea offers 80-gram jars of Abba lumpfish caviar for just $3.59. That's cheaper than a fancy coffee! More affordable than a frozen hamburger!

Of course, you won't get the taste of anything fancy (or necessarily good), but just think of the possibilities -- a fancy shmancy Ikea party. Slather those little globes on crackers, nestle yourself in a comfy Ikea chair with those insanely cheap candles burning, and listen to Abba on the stereo.

But I can't completely chide Ikea. I still love their shrimp and egg sandwiches, and I always hear great things about their Swedish meatballs. Do any of you out there partake in Ikea caviar?

Caviar is one of the most expensive foods in the world. There's a good reason for that: the Caspian sturgeon that the eggs come from are rare and getting even more so as the demand for caviar grows. One way to to alleviate the strain on those giant fish is to create an imitation caviar, and that's what one Japanese company has done.

According to Inventor Spot, the Hokuyu Company makes an imitation called Cavianne that looks very similar to the original. They say that it is also lower in calories than black caviar (which I had no idea was high in calories), in addition to being a way to stop the poaching and pollution that go into obtaining the real thing.

Cavianne has been around for a few years, now, but it's mainly sold wholesale to restaurants and hotels in Japan. Apparently the taste isn't quite up to snuff, but its inventor, Susumu Mikami, says that if he can get the taste of Cavianne closer to the real thing then his company will try to export it globally.

What do you think? Would you buy faux caviar?

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Caviar seems to represent luxury and good taste, both in food and in life, so caviar fans can rejoice that the global ban on caviar is being lifted this year as stocks of sturgeons are up and caviar-producers can start exporting their wares again. Farmed caviar, and American caviar in general, is still an outstanding alternative for a caviar fan because it is often a good value and seems to be improving in quality every year.

If you're not a fan of the fish eggs, you're not alone. There is an alternative to them that will give you the same classic look, but with a much improved texture and flavor: Chocaviar. This caviar is made with chocolate from the Italian chocolate-maker Venchi, which has been expressing "chocolate's soul" since 1878. Each little piece of chocolate is dusted with unsweetened cocoa powder, which intensifies the flavor (something you might not want with the fishier caviar) and makes the product slightly reminiscent of tiny chocolate truffles.

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