Caviar, or else…?

Caviar may be known as "black gold" but these fish eggs have nothing to do with Texas oil barons. With a price tag as high as £120 per ounce for top-quality stuff, it's one of the most expensive as well as one of the most controversial food items that any restaurateur could serve.

On the one hand, to chefs, the word "caviar" - like Rolls-Royce, Krug and Jimmy Choo shoes - is shorthand for "posh". It's a luxury ingredient; it tells the customer that the restaurant they're dining in is out to please. On the other hand, the well-publicised plight of the Caspian Sea sturgeon (see panel below) has made the consumption of caviar a highly politicised issue.

The US restaurant trade has been particularly vocal about where it stands on the caviar issue. A growing number of chefs - including TV chef Jacques Pepin, Rick Moonen of Oceana in New York City and Traci Des Jardins of JardiniŠre in San Francisco - are joining a 70-strong band who refuse to sell Caspian Sea caviar in their restaurants. Moonen has become the spokesperson for Caviar Emptor, a pressure group whose motto is: "Let the connoisseur beware."

Caviar Emptor was formed in December 2000 by three environmental groups - the World Conservation Society, SeaWeb and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Its goals are to educate consumers about the plight of Caspian Sea sturgeon, to investigate and promote alternatives to wild caviar (sturgeon aquaculture is a growing industry in the USA), and to try to get the beluga sturgeon listed on the USA's Endangered Species List. The ultimate aim is to pursue funding to protect and restore all the Caspian Sea species.

Vicki Spruill, executive director of SeaWeb, says: "An increasing number of chefs have joined our effort to protect Caspian Sea sturgeon by choosing other caviars that are better for the environment. But this is a critical situation that will require a sustained commitment from governments, industry, scientists, conservationists and consumers around the world for many years to come."

Meanwhile, here in the UK, the caviar issue bubbles along far more quietly. Chefs here have not been nearly as vocal as some of their US counterparts. Indeed, most British chefs and restaurateurs seem resigned to giving customers what they want.

Brian Clivaz, managing director of Scott's seafood restaurant in London, says he won't be taking caviar off the menu. "You can't replace caviar," he says. "People have tried snail's eggs, salmon eggs, and so on, but caviar is caviar."

Nevertheless, Clivaz sources caviar from Iran only, where stocks are generally recognised as being better managed.

Most in the restaurant business generally agree that there is no such thing as a caviar substitute. However, the high price of caviar - particularly beluga caviar, whose price looks likely to rise further - does act as a disincentive to many restaurateurs to have it on their menus.

Yet there are some chefs, particularly those with training in Japanese techniques, who are experimenting with a range of fish eggs and roes. Japanese chefs have long relied on the colours, textures, shapes and flavours of fish eggs to give Japanese cuisine its unique savour. Chris Behre, the Australian-born chef at London's Mju, works with various fish eggs to make up his eclectic menu. Tarako, natural cod roe imported from Japan, is served with pasta and shiso leaf, while spiced tobikko (flying fish roe) is served with seared scallops with cauliflower purée and fresh samphire.

At Zuma, the fashionable modern Japanese restaurant in London's Knightsbridge, chef-patron Rainer Becker uses tobikko in rolled sushi (maki) to add colour and crunch. Sashimi with yuzu (a type of citrus fruit) and truffle oil dressing is topped off with salmon roe as a garnish. "Each kind of fish egg has its own flavour and identity," Becker says. "But there really is no alternative to caviar - they're just different."

Alternative pleasures

Most British chefs agree that, when it comes to caviar, there's no substitute for the real thing. Other fish roes simply taste different. Chris Behre says that the closest he has found to a caviar substitute is eggs from the sea trout, which he has worked with in Sydney but is unable to import here. He has also worked with eggs from farmed sturgeon from the USA and China, which he describes as "a good product". Here are a few more "not-caviars".

Avruga (herring roe)

Made in Spain, avruga is herring roe with added salt and lemon juice. Some say that it tastes like beluga, but that may be wishful thinking. The flavour is smokier and more lemony, but the round black eggs look the part.
Price guide: £6.20 per 120g

Lumpfish roe

Tiny red or black eggs. The flavour is not as distinct as sturgeon caviar, but it is much more affordable. Often used as a garnish, instead of sturgeon roe. Some eggs are dyed using food colouring, and the colour can run.
Price guide: £2.40 per 100g

Keta (or ikura)

Large red salmon eggs, frequently used in Japanese restaurants. They have a salty-sharp flavour. They look and taste nothing like caviar, however.
Price guide: £4.50 per 100g

Flying fish roe

Also known as tobikko or tobiuonoko, these tiny, fluorescent orange or bright green eggs (dyed using food colouring) don't have much in common with sturgeon caviar, either. They have a briny flavour and a strong crunch. The colour can run.
Price guide: Orange: £13.99 per 500g (frozen); Green: £19.40 per 500g (frozen)

What is caviar?

Caviar is the roe of a fish called the sturgeon. About 90% of the world's caviar comes from the Caspian Sea, from four main species - beluga, Russian, stellate and Persian. Stocks of beluga, which produces the highly prized beluga caviar, are deemed to be "critical", and some experts believe that the population is so depleted that the fish are incapable of reproducing in the wild. Russian sturgeon, which produces oscietra caviar, is also imperilled. Sevruga caviar is produced by the stellate sturgeon, while the Persian sturgeon produces Persian and oscietra caviar.

The three main types of caviar available in the UK are:

* Beluga caviar - soft, clear and glossy; individual eggs are large and range in colour from silver-grey to black, with a dark spot called the "eye"; texture is creamy, almost buttery.

* Oscietra caviar - eggs are medium-sized and can range from grey to brown to golden in colour; flavour is sometimes described as nutty.

* Sevruga caviar - the least rare of caviar types; eggs are even smaller than oscietra, and tend to be dark grey; more strongly flavoured than either beluga or oscietra and tending to be saltier.

The black market

SeaWeb estimates that the worldwide caviar market is worth about $100m (£67m) for legally traded caviar from the Caspian Sea, which accounts for 90% of the world's supply. The illegal trade, however, dwarfs that figure - experts estimate that illegal trade of caviar is 10 times the size of the legal trade. Poaching in the region is rife, and there is a strong black market trade. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, regulation of the northern Caspian Sea fisheries has fallen into ruin.

Iranian-produced caviar is well-regulated but, as Shannon Crownover, a spokesperson for SeaWeb and Caviar Emptor, says: "Sturgeon do not recognise national boundaries. We can't recommend Iranian caviar as sustainable at this time."

Although most governments in the region have laws prohibiting poaching, enforcement is crippled by lack of funding and, in some cases, violence against law enforcers. In some parts of the region, selling the eggs of a single sturgeon can provide the equivalent of one month's salary, which suggests that poaching is not likely to stop any time soon.

Smuggling, too, is rife. Although imported caviar must conform to strict labelling requirements, it's easy enough for smugglers to forge labels and reuse tins. Inevitably, contraband caviar, much of it poor quality, is finding its way to the UK. One restaurateur revealed: "A lot of people are flying over from Russia with tins of the stuff that's in very poor condition and trying to sell it."

If black market caviar comes your way, avoid it. First, it's illegal, and second, much of it is badly handled and stored, and could pose health problems for customers.

Your shout

Let us know what you think about the caviar issue. Should chefs take a moral stand? Do UK chefs need to set up a pressure group? What do you use as an alternative? E-mail amanda.afiya@rbi.co.uk or joanna.wood@rbi.co.uk.