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The best tip for buying caviar right now would be: "don't buy it, period". Caviar made quite a journey from the common food of the poor to the heights of luxury in the last few centuries but now the sturgeon population of the Caspian sea and around it (that's where caviar mostly comes from, exported from Iran and Russia) is paying too dearly for this turn of gastronomic fashion.

Every year poachers kill thousands of enormous magnificent sturgeons. They take their roe, treat it with salt and sell it at the black market, leaving formidable 200-400 pound sturgeon carcasses to rot. They don't give a damn that their greed is fast destroying all species of Caspian sturgeon. The state representatives are over-fishing too as there is less and less caviar every year and the state budget needs caviar money. If these combined efforts continue Caspian sturgeon (and the best caviar in the world) will be dead as dodo before this century runs out.

I visit Russia from time to time and I have noticed that the quality of caviar available even in the best Russian restaurants (that should know better) has plunged dramatically, while the prices have soared out of all proportions. I believe that they are scrapping the bottom of the barrel now.

Give caviar a rest. Give the Caspian sturgeon population a chance. Caviar is indeed lovely (especially served the right way with soft white rolls and butter and no onions!) but do you want to contribute to the demise of the sturgeon species buying Caspian caviar? There will be no caviar left for our children and grandchildren at the rate we are going now.

On a brighter note there is a lot of other kinds of delicious fish roe about (in Russia for example it is also considered to be caviar of some sort - or ikra' as it is called, although it is obviously much cheaper). Try luscious fiery red salmon caviar or exquisite yellow pike-perch one. Just don't be ever tempted to buy imitation caviar it is usually quite disgusting.

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