How did eating Caviar start? The British kings of the middle ages reserved all the sturgeon fish meat for their own consumption and Edward II knighted it the “Royal Fish”, set aside solely for royalty.

However, it was the Persians who first prepared and savored sturgeon roe. The word “caviar” actually comes from the Persian word “khav-yar” which means “cake of strength” or “cake of power”. This was because the people of Persia attributed many medicinal powers to caviar.

The Persians collected the fish eggs on the Kura River, however, the tradition of salting fish roe for consumption actually originated in China, where carp eggs were historically prepared in this way.

How did eating Caviar start? The first known record of caviar dates back to the Greek scholar Aristotle. In the 4th Century B.C. Aristotle described this delicacy as “the eggs of the sturgeon, heralded into banquets amongst trumpets and flowers”.

However, it was Russia and the Russian Tsars that catapulted caviar into the world of luxury. The golden roe of the Sterlet sturgeon – now over fished to the point of near extinction- produced what would become the “imperial” caviar, the most delicate and coveted type of caviar available. As time progressed, gourmet caviar spread to all countries across Europe, and was prized by nearly every culture.

Take a look at our range of incredible Caviar here