Black dots are everywhere — on TikTok, on Instagram, on people’s hands. influencerson top of unusual foods and… inside sturgeon, a species on the verge of extinction.
If you search for “caviar” on TikTok or Instagram, you’ll likely find a call Danielle Zaslavskayaalso known as the Queen of Caviar. Dressed in designer clothes and diamond jewelry, the Ukrainian woman sprinkles caviar over (fish fingers, Doritos, Pringles, the list goes on).
But you’re not the only person on the Internet who is killing it at the expense of this product. Jonathan Haffmansthe executive chef of Industry Kitchen, was known for creating the tarte “24K”.
Yes: as the name suggests, this “pie”, is very expensive, and costs 2 thousand dollars (1.9 thousand euros) and, among edible gold leaves, petals and cuttlefish ink, is the luxury ingredient , to the sturgeon roebetter known as caviar.
According to the magazine, a modern twist on caviar, the “caviar bump“, is accumulating millions of views on social media. The “caviar bump” consists of pour a small portion of caviar into your hand, in the zoan between your thumb and forefinger, and lick it off in one go. The trend has gone viral on TikTok, with people recording themselves trying the “caviar bump”.
@queencitytrends Our version of Sunday Funday ❤️@Marky’s this sure was a very special treat! #browngirl #browntiktok #momsover30 #dadsoftiktok #caviar #caviarking #momlife #foodtiktok #foodtok #caviarbumps #snackbreak #snackideas #sundayfunday ♬ original sound – Vidya
As reported by, until relatively recently, salted sturgeon roe (and sometimes salmon roe, swordfish, or a handful of other fish species that go into the caviar bucket) were an expensive but niche product, popularized by Russian royalty in tsarist times. Not anymore.
As global caviar sales increased by 74% since 2020, especially during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the idea of a luxury experience in a can attracted the underserved to restaurants.
“We saw a significant 15% increase in sales in 2023which we attribute to several factors: continued post-pandemic interest in at-home luxuries, the rise of caviar on social media, and a growing curiosity among younger generations,” says Edward Panchernikov is the marketing director of , the online store of one of the largest caviar importers in the USA.
“We are excited to see or caviar be adopted by a wider audience. Whether it’s a classic pairing or a modern twist,” he says.
For most of the 20th century, the Soviet Union maintained a near monopoly on the caviar trade. The bureaucrats in Moscow knew its value very well. Being a poor country that needed foreign currency To sustain its embryonic economy, the USSR was eager to make profitable the minkgold, diamonds — basically, everything that caught the attention of the West.
Due to his association with the Russian nobility, who spent lavishly throughout Europe before the Russian Revolution of 1917, caviar fell into this category.
However, with the decline of the USSR in the 80s, the black market for caviar increased. Ira Goller, owner of the famous Murray Sturgeon Shop, explains that in the USA, at one point, a caviar war between department stores Macy’s and Zabar’sthe bastion of Jewish “appetite,” causing the price of caviar to go down and down.
“You could go down Broadway and there were some little plastic caviar containers all over the curb“, recalls Goller. That’s how cheap it was.
Currently, in the USA, white sturgeon grow in ponds in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Idaho. Meanwhile, in the southeastern United States—Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, in particular—there are probably more Russian sturgeon farms than in the entire Caspian wilderness.
And it wasn’t just in the United States that sturgeon domestication came to be seen as a useful thing to do. Canada, France and Italy have become important producers since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
As the explains, rampant corruption and “overfishing” have decimated stocks and, since 2008, it has been illegal to sell wild caviar. Currently, everything is cultivated, with China being the main suppliersecuring 200 of the world market’s 600 annual tonnes, some of which (from Belgium and Italy, as well as China) are, in fact, of high quality.
“Even in the case of baeri [kaspia, uma espécie de esturjão originária da Rússia]which reproduces more quickly, requires a minimum of five years. The investment is enormous and up to 30% of the initial fry are lost [peixes juvenis]which do not mature to produce eggs”, says another ““, from the United Kingdom, Laura King MBEwhich also became famous because of this food.
In Portugal, sturgeon are currently extinct. But it is under threat worldwide. As the , “sturgeons are the most threatened group of species on the planet. These gentle giants have been around since the age of the dinosaurs, but are now on the brink of extinction due to overfishing, the flourishing illegal caviar trade and habitat loss“.
The TikTok trend also has its dark side — literally. The European Union already has for a attempt to conserve the species. Meanwhile, the “caviar queens” continue to take “shots” of the endangered fish’s eggs.
