|
abstract:
Look closely at caviar! The dull dark color of those salted eggs of the sturgeon reflects a part of human history. Grandiloquent, you may say; but exaggeration has never hurt caviar. From the staple food of the devout poor on the littoral of the Caspian Sea it rose to the exclusive delicacy of the European aristocracy. Along the way, it engaged the attention of the Mongols and Cossacks, Italian sea merchants and Greek adventurers, the Tsars and the Shahs, Western entrepreneurs of the industrial age and Armenians in Diaspora. Caviar may reek of hedonism, but its elevation was equally providential as it received both the blessing of the Christian Orthodox Church and the fatwa of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Just as paradoxical, the Russian Communists monopolized and nurtured caviar’s production because they coveted the prestige conferred by this status symbol from the decadent capitalist world. The Islamic regime of Iran lovingly makes caviar mostly for export as a matter of national pride. The origin of the word itself is claimed as a badge of honor by disparate nations. Indeed, the world has literally come to love caviar to death: over fishing has made sturgeon an endangered species. Yet very few know much about caviar. Hamlet, referring to a play as “caviare to the general,” meant to epitomize its esoteric distance from the general public. Many centuries since, the mystique of caviar has kept it still in mystery. Not to diminish the allure of caviar, this story merely attempts to shed more light on it.
Keywords: caviar * Caspian Sea * sturgeon * Russian * Iranian * Petrossian
|
Romancing the Fish Egg
|
|
|
Imagine
yourself in Place Vendome. It is late afternoon. The magnificent
Column in the middle, with the statue of Napoleon, back again,
perching on its top, casts a long shadow. In the chiaroscuro, it
seems tout Paris
is strolling toward Cesar Ritz's hotel at the corner. It is
annees folles, the
Roaring 20s on this side of the Ocean. The buzz is about the
latest Igor Stravinsky piece and the last Diaghilev choreography
for the Ballet Russes.
You enter the lobby, not grand, but charming and cozy. At the
bar they are serving Russian caviar. It is the delicacy that is
taking the city by storm.
The unlikely agents of this phenomenon are two young Armenian
brothers of Iranian origin, Melkoum and Mouchegh Petrossian. The
Bolshevik revolution interrupted their plan to study law and
architecture in Moscow
. They left for Tehran, spent several idle months there, and eventually came to France. They wished to study medicine here but could not qualify for
the French schools. (Laurence, 2002) The brothers discussed
their plight with other members of the Petrossian clan who had
also fled the Bolsheviks, abandoning their business of
cultivating silkworms in Tbilisi,
Georgia. Somebody brought up the subject of caviar. Armenians
were old hands in the caviar trade. Lazar Mailoff, whose
granddaughter Mouchegh would later marry, had established a
caviar business at the river Koure in northern Azerbaijan
in the early 19th century. In time, that family
became one of the biggest producers of caviar in Tsarist Russia.
(Ramade, 1999: 104) Of greater relevance were the contemporary
stories of the competing claims of other Armenians, Grigor
Petrovic Vanitsovic and the heirs of Stepan Marinovic Lianozov,
to the caviar of
Iran. Both groups had just lost their rights under fishing
concessions in Iran
when they could not make the required payments because of the
Russian revolution.
With no better alternative in sight, Melkoum and Mouchegh
Petrossian decided to take the leap and go into the Caviar
business themselves. They approached the Russian legation in
Paris
but, lacking credentials, were rebuffed more than once. They
persisted. The new Soviet government, drained by the civil war,
was in dire need of foreign exchange. It finally agreed to
furnish the brothers with a shipment of caviar in return for a
suitcase full of French francs. The Petrossian family liquidated
virtually all its meager remaining assets to come up with the
cash.
The
next step was not any easier. The French were a hard sell. In
their caviar tasting venues, Melkoum and Mouchegh placed
spittoons to receive the haughty rejections from their Gallic
guests. (Nalley, 2002; Ramade, 1999: 106) Monsieur
Ritz told the Petrossians that he saw no future in Caviar,
but he too eventually yielded to the relentless entrepreneurs
and bought a ton for his showcase establishment.
The
Petrossians proved to be superb promoters of Caviar. Much of the above
story is based on their reporting. They have continued to contribute to
the myths surrounding the simple eggs from the sturgeon fish. Who knows
how much of this is magic realism? What we do know is that soon not only
the French, but also the trend-setting Americans of the Lost Generation
-- people like Ernst Hemingway, Josephine Baker, the Fitzgeralds, and
the Murphys-- became Caviar aficionados. (Petrossian Paris; McCaffery,
2000)
The
initial core constituency was the Russian émigrés in Paris. If the rich grandees went to the Ritz, the ones who managed to bring
out only modest fortunes frequented the Petrossians' caviar shop near
Quai d'Orsay
. In these exiles' nostalgic reminiscing caviar played not a small part,
since for the upper class Russians caviar was a singular food,
distinguishing their culture, a matter of national pride.
READ
MORE
|
|
|
|
