Caviar & art II

 

Here is a very informative youtube video (23min long) about caviar in general. Mostly about the Russian caviar industry and the Caspian Sea (states).

But there is also a short chapter about the Russian artist Andrei Logvin and his caviar-poster mentioned in an earlier post. Watch the video between 4:55 min – 6:25min…

ENJOY!

Caviar & art

 

Andrei Logvin is a russian artist and designer from Moscow. He stirred up the local scene with his award winning advertising poster “Zhizn Udalas” about 10 years ago. It shows black caviar over red caviar. And it says in kirilic “life has been a success”. The work reflects the russian situation back in 1998, when the stock market collapsed and caviar became unaffordable for the most. Triggering a need to reflect on this national delicatesse and the must-have attitude of Moscow’s in-crowd. Of course, over the last 10 years many russians became very (stinky) rich and the impact of this poster lost its provocation.

But now, in the eye of the current economic crisis, as Russia’s finest (oligarchs) are struggling again to protect their remaining billions, this artwork might become their epitome of the Present Tense…

 

 

Snail caviar III – video

 

 

 

 

 

 

If have already introduced snail caviar from france and mentioned its availability at Harrods.

Here is a youtube video to share about this snail caviar producer De Jaeger.

According to the video, snail eggs can reach up to 4mm in diameter. Impressive. That’s somewhere between beluga and keta kaviar. And I have to admit that the eggs seem to look that way afterall. A bit ‘artificial’ maybe, but it definitely makes me wonder how moos tastes in the mouth…Hopefully I can lay my hands on them soon!

Caviar production side financing research costs

 

 

 

 

 

This is a good example of getting independency. If you are running a marine laboratory and its costly research costs are giving you a headache, then why not breeding sturgeons by yourself and selling their high-valued roe on the market in order to support the institutional costs?

And that’s what Mote, a marine laboratory based in Florida, is doing since 1997. Breeding sturgeon. And since 2006 selling caviar from the russian and siberian sturgeon. This seems to be a helping hand for this independently run and nonprofit lab. It is active in the field of aquacultural research and has an education programm and even an aquarium to offer.

Great job!

 

For further infos, see:

- this video on youtube, and

- their official website

Swedens fight against illegal caviar

 

Enforcement action against illegal caviar traders in Sweden is paying dividends, with just two tins of illicit caviar discovered by County regulators between 2006 and 2008, and the conviction in December 2008 of the two retailers for illegally selling caviar. They were fined a total of SEK22,200 (USD2,500).

The clampdown on illegal caviar in Sweden began in 2005, mainly in Uppsala and Stockholm. In November, 21 tins of osetra, sevruga and beluga caviar were confiscated in Uppsala. In court, it was revealed the caviar had come from Estonia via Finland and was half the normal price and lacked appropriate documentation.

In Gothenburg the same month, police confiscated 12 tins of caviar from three different retailers, who were similarly unable to produce the correct documentation. All were subsequently convicted of selling illegal caviar and fined a total of SEK11,400 (USD1,300).

The cases attracted high media attention, with fish retailers claiming they were unaware of the legislation. Subsequently, the relevant Swedish trade association contacted its members to inform them about the rules covering the caviar trade.

“Thanks to the authorities and the high profile media coverage, fish retailers and traders in Sweden are all aware of the regulations concerning caviar, and the illegal trade has been reduced significantly,” commented Mats Forslund, TRAFFIC Europe’s representative based in Sweden.

Original article taken from Traffic.org – the wildlife trade monitoring network

Preference for ‘rareness’ drives wild sturgeons to extinction

 

Last year biologists in France have warned that irrational preferences for rare products are likely to drive the few remaining caviar sturgeon in the Caspian Sea to extinction.

According to a report in New Scientist, the team of biologists has shown that snobbish attitudes drive a strong preference for caviar supposedly from rare species, even when the samples are the same.

Franck Courchamp and Agnes Gault of the University of Paris-South in Orsay ran taste tests at luxury receptions, where people were used to eating caviar, and among more naive consumers at supermarkets.

The consumers were presented with samples said to be from a rare and a common species although both actually consisted of eggs from farmed sturgeon.

Even before tasting, 57% of people at the luxury receptions expressed a preference for the rare caviar, while none preferred the common alternative.

After they had tasted the two identical samples, 70% of the experienced consumers said the preferred the rare sample.

It was the same story in the supermarkets, with 52% preferring the rare caviar before tasting it, and 74% expressing the same preference after they had done so.

Its very scary, said fisheries scientist Ellen Pikitch of the Pew Institute for Ocean Science in New York.

The fact that people who are not yet in the champagne-and-caviar set have the same predilection as established consumers means that threats to sturgeon will only grow with rising prosperity.

The expanding economy of China is going to put hundreds of thousands of people in reach of these kinds of luxury products, Courchamp noted.

According to Courchamp, similar preferences for the rare can drive an extinction vortex in many circumstances for example, when trophy hunters selectively target endangered animals.

In the case of caviar, it means that the availability of farmed products may do little to protect sturgeon from extinction in the absence of a total ban on trading wild-caught caviar.

According to some estimates, sturgeon could be virtually wiped out in the Caspian Sea by 2012 at current rates of exploitation.

A one-year ban was introduced by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 2006, but failed to halt the sturgeons decline.

You dont save species by stopping trade for a year, said Pikitch, who runs the charity Caviar Emptor, which is striving to save the Caspian Seas sturgeon.

The next opportunity to achieve a longer-lasting ban will come in 2010, when CITES member nations will meet in Doha, Qatar.

Snail caviar II – now available at Harrods

 

The ultimate in slow food has hit the shelves of Harrod’s food hall. Snail caviar, which is exclusive to Harrods, is produced by De Jaeger in France. The company rears its snails in outdoor pens on a nutritious diet of vegetation and cereal grains, resulting in plump, great tasting snails.

After three years of research De Jaeger has perfected its own method of farming snail caviar and is now offering customers the chance to indulge in the cream-coloured, pearl-shaped delicacy. Each snail lays its eggs once a year, producing around 100 eggs on average. With this tiny, but precious amount, the people at De Jaeger hand pick the eggs every year and sort through them, retaining the best ones for their tins of caviar.

The snail caviar is prepared in a brine of fleur de sel de Guérande, and is available to buy in tins of 50, 125, 250, 500 and 1000 grams. So what does it taste like? Well, according to those in the know, its reminiscent of ‘a walk in the forest after the rain, with the aroma of mushrooms and the undergrowth, tasting of hints of oak leaves and moss’. Admittedly it doesn’t normally cost you £650 for 250g worth of rain, mushrooms and moss, but if caviar is your thing, then its oak flavour and earthy notes could be worth splashing out on.

Available from Harrods in four different sizes ranging from £65/30g to £650/250g.

Related post: http://www.caviarist.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=771

Harrods

Sea urchin roe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a new candidate in the very fast growing family of ‘caviar substitutes’ (e.g. lobsviar, snail caviar, tobiko, tarama, botarga, seaweed caviar, etc.). And in the process, the real stuff (sturgeon roe), gets waterized more and more by these cheap and almost always disgusting ‘alternatives’ (altough there is plenty of ‘disgusting’ caviar on the market aswell…). Ok, that might sound too harsh. But at least they are not to be considered as a substitute for caviar. Or is riding a bike a real alternative for driving an Aston Martin? Of course it’s not.

So, we should name these babies by their names by saying ‘caviar imitations’ – at best.

Anyway, back to the subject. This caviar imitation made of sea urchin comes from Spain. And 120grams go over the shelf for only about 10-12EUR. So, ‘cheap’ seems definitely apropriate to me…But to be honest, I never tried that one so I put it onto my to-do list. After all they told us to never judge a book by its cover.

Here’s what they say about it:

“Expert gourmets agree that Sea Urchin Caviar is one of the best tasting dishes, even when you have it plain with no other seasonings. It is also an excellent ingredient to add to any of your seafood dishes. In truth, there is no other product that will bring the sea-flavor to your table as perfectly as the sea urchin.

Conservas La Polar is an SME located in the coastal city of Gijon (Spain) since 1959. Its main activity is production of select fish and seafood preserves for the high end of the market of delicatessen. It also has a brand EuroFood, for production of  pre-cooked dishes typical of regional Asturan cooking.

Eurostockweb are the exclusive exporter for all the world.” (Taken from http://www.alibaba.com/product-tp/105522510/Sea_urchin_roes_caviar_120_gr.html)

In case of having questions about quality, prices or even wanting to make your own brand, here are the contact details:

Mr. Benjamin Chevillard Marques can be reached under: 0034-985-134384

Company details: EUROSTOCKWEB CB, Avenida Castilla 21, 33203 Gijon, Asturias, Spain

24 karat Gold ‘Caviar’

 

Inventions that the world doesnt need…?

Beverlyhillscaviar.com offers an imitation of caviar made out of gold flakes, white wine and lemon (so they say). Surely ideal to decorate sea food and sweets…Pricetag on a 2.6oz jar: 145USD.

See also this (almost funny!) interview on metacafe.com with the owners of lonestarcaviar.com and beverlyhillscaviar.com. You might tell your potential clients that all fish eggs fall under the ‘caviar’ category. But I highly recommend you to do that only in the US!

Bill, Beluga is ‘just as good as American Caviar’? From which lonely star does this fact come from? And what the heck is a ‘black sturgeon’? Just the oposite of the US ‘white sturgeon’ maybe?

Caviar dealer appeals sentence in smuggling case, seeks new trial

 

“Days after caviar purveyor Max Moghaddam and his company Bemka Corp. were sentenced Feb. 25 in U.S. District Court for exporting American paddlefish roe without permits, he filed an appeal and is seeking a new trial.

Moghaddam, who maintains his innocence in a prepared statement sent to Gourmet News, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, fined $100,000 and ordered to serve three years probation. Bemka, which operates under the name Bemka House of Caviar and Fine Food, was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $200,000 and four years probation. About $122,000 worth of American paddlefish roe was seized by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Moghaddam and his company Bemka Corp. of Fort Lauderdale, were found guilty by a federal jury Dec. 4, 2008, for their involvement in conspiracy, false labeling of export shipments and the illegal export of the internationally protected fish roe during the period from July 2005 through April 2007.

Since 1992, American paddlefish has been listed for protection under the international treaty known as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. More than 170 countries cooperate in the enforcement of the provisions of CITES.

It is illegal to export the American paddlefish roe without CITES permits, and while Moghaddam and Bemka had obtained CITES permits in the past, there was not one on file for the shipment in question, noted Brian Roland, special agent with U.S. Fish and Wildlife office of law enforcement.

According to the USFWS, the American paddlefish was falsely described on shipping invoices and customs documents as bowfin roe.

In a March 3 statement sent to Gourmet News, Moghaddam maintains there was a mistake on the part of the export department. In the July 2008 issue of Gourmet News, Moghaddam said the charges stem from an April 2007 sample shipment to the European Seafood Expo. Admitting the paddlefish roe was accidentally mislabeled as bowfin roe, he said he knows every container is checked, and that anyone could tell the difference between the light to dark gray paddlefish roe and the black bowfin roe.

Roland said “the evidence presented at trial showed that the paddlefish roe Bemka received had the paddlefish label removed and bowfin labels had been applied.”

Moghaddam plead not guilty at the four-day trial that started Dec. 1, 2008.”

Article taken from Gourmetnews.com (registration necessary!)

Read older blogpost about the ‘Bemka-trial’

 

 

 

 

 

Bemka House of Caviar and Fine Foods