RUSIA

Although the Persians are generally credited as pioneers in the production and consumption of caviar, it was the Russians, at the end of the 10th century and during the reign of Vladimir, Prince of Kiev, who were the first to develop the art of caviar as we understand it in modern times. Regardless of any historical discussion, no one disputes that this delicacy became a true cultural icon of Russia.

BATU KHAN

Batu Khan is credited with making the first verified reference to caviar in the modern sense of the word. This occurred around 1240 when the grandson of the legendary Genghis Khan, who had just invaded and ravaged Russia with the Mongol army, visited a monastery in Uglich. He and his wife Yildiz were honored by the monks with a grand feast. For dessert, hot apples topped with a spoonful of salted sturgeon roe were served. The delicacy did not appeal to her, but the feared visitor was delighted. So much so that the Russian Orthodox Church monastery was granted safe passage and remained intact.

SHAKESPEARE

Caviar was not known in Europe until the 14th century, when Venetian merchants ventured into the Black Sea and brought it back on their ships, filling large barrels with the fragile black roe. But it took time to be accepted: two centuries later, Shakespeare referred to caviar as a metaphor for the obscure and incomprehensible. Even well into the 19th century, European fishermen continued to discard sturgeon roe, throwing it to animals or leaving it on riverbanks.

LUIS XIV

The delicious history of caviar also includes a small chapter for Louis XIV, the Sun King. During a reception held at Versailles, Tsar Peter the Great sent a sample of caviar to the palace through the Russian ambassador. Legend has it that the French monarch, disgusted after tasting it, immediately spat it on the floor, causing a diplomatic incident. But history would have its revenge: a few centuries later, Paris would fall under the spell of caviar.

PARIS

When the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917, overthrowing the tsars, and World War I ended in Europe the following year, Louis XIV had been buried for about 200 years, and no one remembered his snub. Paris was about to dance to the rhythm of the Roaring Twenties. By the 1920s, Russian caviar was the missing element at parties enlivened by the Charleston, champagne, and refugee aristocrats.