This chronicle tells the little or the big story behind our food, dishes or chefs. Powerful weapon soft power, A societal and cultural marker, food is the founding element of our civilizations. Conflicts, diplomacy, traditions, cuisine has always had a political dimension. Because as Bossuet already said in the 17th century, “it is at the table that we govern”.
In the heart of the Russian Far East, Vladivostok is under siege on September 11, 2018. The city is hosting a very high-level economic forum with two distinguished guests: Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. As the meetings on various partnerships continue, the two heads of state will go somewhat beyond protocol to celebrate the Sino-Russian axis… gastronomically. They put on a kitchen apron, take out the bottle of vodka to toast the excellence of their relationships before getting behind the stove to concoct caviar blinis. If the head of the Kremlin has already accustomed us to the most intimate scenes – fishing or on horseback, shirtless – the Chinese leader is more accustomed to composure. But Xi Jinping has every reason to strut. The little “black gold” beads that he meticulously placed on his pancake are today one of the symbols of Chinese aquaculture success.
After twenty years of research and work, the Middle Kingdom has become the leader in the sector with 250 tonnes of sturgeon eggs each year, or half of the world market. If this fish has brought joy to Moscow and Tehran for decades on the shores of the Caspian Sea or the Volga, it is today almost exclusively raised on Chinese farms.
Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris offer Chinese caviar
The current world cradle of caviar is located in Qiandaohu, 300 kilometers southwest of Shanghai. A body of water, five times the size of Paris, which serves as a hydraulic dam to supply the entire province of Zhejiang. Listed in tourist guides for its pure waters, surrounded by mountains and forests, the “thousand island” lake could have been content to be the vacation spot for wealthy Beijingers. But the Chinese Communist Party decided otherwise…
In addition to housing an ancient sunken city from the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD), it also hosts a park with around a hundred pools from the very strategic Kaluga Queen franchise. This Chinese brand, created in 2005 at the instigation of experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, produces no less than 80% of Chinese caviar, nearly 200 tonnes in 2022. They splash around happily for seven to fifteen years, sturgeons, this fish which can reach four meters in length and weigh more than 300 kilos. The best specimens can fetch up to 2 million yuan, or nearly 260,000 euros.
While China has often made the headlines for cases of contaminated milk powder, cadmium-laced rice, and arsenic-laced soy sauce, this time it finds itself praised in the world of luxury for its black pearls. Here is the – non-exhaustive – list of its prestigious clients: the airline Lufthansa which offers them on its first class, Yannick Alléno at Ledoyen Pavilion (three stars), Bernard Pacaud at Ambrosia (three stars), Guy Savoy (two stars and voted best restaurant in the world by La Liste), who uses it to enhance his skate wing thanks to its notes of green walnut and bitter orange, or the Shang Palace, the only Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant in France with this wonderful starter: a Gillardeau No. 2 oyster fried with Kristal caviar (58 euros). When French tradition meets new Chinese excellence…
Soviet smuggling networks
If in our imagination, caviar is still associated with Russia, we owe it in part to a house which popularized it in Paris in the 1920s: Petrossian, whose brand is still the undisputed market leader today. Mouchegh and his brother Melkoum Petrossian, survivors of the Armenian genocide, will achieve the feat of imposing “black gold” on all the major tables in the capital, even on the menu of the Ritz. In the United States, formerly the world’s leading producer of caviar in the 19th century, Marilyn Monroe loved it. Cinema also popularizes it with the saga James Bond, where Agent 007 regularly enjoys it accompanied by a vodka-martini. Shipments of sturgeon eggs, caught in the wild from the Caspian Sea, notably by Iran and Russia, are a delight for Westerners. But glory has a price.
While the Soviets were quickly forced to place its trade under the control of a state agency, researcher Nicolas Werth recounts, in an article in the journal The story, how a smuggling network, involving senior officials, trafficked cans of black caviar… in cans labeled “herring”, at the time of Leonid Brezhnev, president of the USSR from 1977 to 1982. If the Khomeinist revolution of 1979 had little effect on fishing on the Iranian side, the fall in 1991 of the USSR, which therefore regulated catches, led to overfishing and poaching which caused the fish population to fall. Threatened with extinction, the sturgeon has gradually become a protected species. Since 2008, its fishing in the Caspian Sea has been completely prohibited. Competition will develop at breakneck speed: in Italy (leading European producer), in France with its Aquitaine caviar still seeking a protected geographical indication (PGI), in Poland, in Vietnam, in Austria with its caviar “white” coming from extremely rare albino sturgeons at an astronomical cost, and therefore in China.
After having conquered the palaces and starred restaurants of the world, it remains for the Chinese to conquer… China. The upper middle class still prefers imported products to their own gems but the potential is immense. The emergence of this player has already had the effect of lowering prices: 1,580 euros in 2012, compared to 1,300 euros per kilo in 2022, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ( FAO). Formerly reserved for special occasions, black pearls, rich in vitamins and minerals, particularly omega 3, are the new stars of TikTok influencers, on the menu of fast-food brands like Taco Bell and even at the top of the supermarket gondola. In Occident…
The international caviar market is expected to grow by another 7% per year by 2025. Sturgeon is therefore China’s new golden goose. European sanctions against Moscow, due to the invasion of Ukraine, targeting numerous products, including caviar, only reinforce what has been achieved. Russia no longer weighs very heavily on the market. When we peel the map of the Russian House in Paris, today we find, at this prestigious table with a Slavic atmosphere, Beluga caviar but also Imperial Baeri and Imperial Oscietra… from Sologne.
Our advices :
A restaurant to eat caviar: Russian House, 59, avenue Raymond Poincaré, 75116 Paris
A book on Chinese cuisine: The Guide to Chinese Cuisine, by Handa Cheng. Editions du Chêne, 2023.
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