Editor’s note

Good morning. In today’s newsletter, we’ve got a little treat for you. Usually, you’d have to shell out big bucks or travel to enjoy the delicacies we’ll be digging into this morning, but we’re delivering them straight to your inbox. So, feel free to gorge on these stories about gastronomic luxuries, from caviar, truffles, and Champagne to even more exotic—and in some cases even illegal—culinary offerings.

ROE-VOLUTION

Chicken nuggets with caviar on top. McDonald’s

You haven’t really experienced luxury until you’ve sliced open a sturgeon and smothered a potato chip in its beady little unfertilized eggs. And yet, the high-end delicacy caviar is currently facing an identity crisis, as Chinese caviar floods the wholesale market and direct-to-consumer retailers, fast food chains, and even a sweater company get their hands on the once-rare topping.

But first, some history. Caviar wasn’t always so hoity-toity. It used to be so cheap and undesirable in the US that bars in the 1800s would serve the salty morsels for free, like peanuts or popcorn. By the turn of the century, however, caviar’s luxury status in Europe and Russia started to spread to the States—and so did demand. Sturgeon, which produce the eggs used in caviar, were overfished worldwide, especially in the Caspian Sea. By 2006, bans from the US and the United Nations had effectively halted the import and export of wild-caught caviar.

The industry goes DIY

Following the ban and the depletion of wild reserves, caviar suppliers had to pivot from fishing to farming, building massive sturgeon operations. But that led to its own problem: Sturgeon can take decades to mature and produce eggs—and they’re the ultimate diva of the fish world, requiring highly specific water temperatures. Only a few producers globally could do it, making caviar even rarer and more expensive.

Along came China:

• In the 1990s, the Chinese government decided to become the ultimate purveyor of fine fish products, investing heavily in its sturgeon aquaculture setups (among other delicacies, like foie gras, cherries, and macadamia nuts).
• In 2012, China made up about 14% of the global caviar market. But by 2024, it was the largest supplier of the fancy treat, accounting for 43%, according to a Financial Times analysis of International Trade Centre data.

Enter the new guys. With massive amounts of Chinese caviar flooding the US markets, wholesale prices have dropped. That’s allowed more nontraditional vendors to start hawking the fancy treats.

Last year, for instance, McDonald’s topped McNuggets with free caviar for Valentine’s Day. A whole new crop of DTC caviar brands has popped up recently, selling tins for under $200, compared with the $500+ price tag of traditional suppliers. Per the Wall Street Journal, caviar is getting so cheap “you could serve it to a toddler.”—MM

      

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EVERY DAY I’M TRUFFLIN’

Nicolas Cage in the movie ‘Pig.’ Neon

Truffles seem to be reshaping menus faster than QR codes did in 2020. The luxury item has gone mainstream, popping up on French fries, pizza, and in hot sauces. Truffles are even the basis for a Nicolas Cage movie, Pig. And it doesn’t get more ubiquitous than Nic Cage.

Underground activity: Truffles don’t grow on trees—they grow underground near their roots. They’re rare, hard to find and grow, and have a short shelf life, hence their exorbitant price. White truffles can sell for more than $4,000 per pound.

Truffle shuffle: Thanks to a particularly good Italian white truffle harvest in 2015, prices dropped temporarily, opening the door for more restaurants to utilize the aromatic fungus, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. Once customers got a taste, they wanted more, even when prices went up (kind of like how streaming services work).

So, if truffles are so expensive, how are they everywhere? Technically, they may not be, since many restaurants don’t actually use fresh truffles—they use truffle oil, which is often just artificially flavored cooking oil. It’s also something your favorite TV chefs probably hate.—BC

      

bottle that

Jean-Christophe Verhaegen/Getty Images

Your smart aleck friend who says “aaaaactually…” every time you call any bottle of bubbly “Champagne” is, unfortunately, probably right.

French law, recognized by over 130 countries including the EU, dictates that any drink branded as Champagne must be made with grapes grown in France’s Champagne region, known for its cool climate conducive to concocting crisp wines. It must also be aged for at least 15 months and fermented in the bottle.

The trade group Comité Champagne has pursued legal action against ads that even jokingly reference the word to promote products that aren’t from the region.

Champagne is where it all began

A local 17th-century monk with the now-famous name Dom Perignon developed the signature taste by corking wine for in-bottle fermentation and using refined grape material.

Protections for the fizzy libation have been around for over a century:

• Champagne winemakers were popping bottles when the 1891 Treaty of Madrid gave them the ability to sue their foreign colleagues for misleading geographic branding.
• International protection was further extended by the Treaty of Versailles in a boon to French winegrowers whose vineyards suffered from the destruction of World War I.

But, in good news for Miller High Life…the US didn’t ratify the treaty. And a later transatlantic agreement with the EU didn’t apply to brands retroactively, so you can still buy California sparkling wine branded as Champagne.

The right to call bubbly Champagne is lucrative: The region exported more than $4 billion worth of proper Champagne last year.—SK

      

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DON’T EAT THAT

When delicacy crosses over into illegality

Johan Nilsson/Getty Images

Sometimes what makes something a delicacy isn’t taste, price, or status—it’s that it’s forbidden by law.

Foods can be banned for many reasons, like their danger to children or potential to carry disease. There’s a multibillion-dollar black market involving the trade of live animals and plants, with some used in the type of dining reserved for movie villains. To name a few:

• Shark fin: The process is called “finning,” in which the fin is removed from the shark, the shark is dropped back in the water to die, and the fin is used in expensive shark fin soup.
• Bushmeat: This term refers to meat from wild animals, including antelope, primates, and rats. Imagine eating Remy.
• Casu marzu: It’s considered “the world’s most dangerous cheese” by the Guinness Book of World Records due to the dangers associated with eating the live maggots found in the Sardinian…delicacy.

Who is eating this and how is it getting here? A 2019 New York Post report found that the people in the US most likely to seek these delicacies were chefs preparing them for, shockingly, the ultra-wealthy. The prohibited foods have been smuggled into the US via private jet and…wrapped inside a silk scarf.—DL

news you can use

Global traveler test: Have you eaten these foods?

Unsplash

No offense to Ibérico ham and Italian white truffles, but a whole world of prized cuisine lies beyond the average tourist’s favorite hits. Color us impressed if you’ve dined on these delicacies:

Durian: Grown across Southeast Asia, this mildly sweet yet stinky fruit is in high demand—the international market grew 400% between 2022 and 2023, driven by China’s multibillion-dollar appetite.

Kibbeh Nayyeh: Many countries have a version of steak tartare, and this is Lebanon’s (though it’s also popular across the Levant region). It’s made with minced raw lamb or beef, bulgur (a type of cracked wheat), pureed onion, and, commonly, Lebanese seven-spice. It’s served flattened, with indentations for drizzled olive oil.

Escamoles: It’s cooked ant larvae, which is sometimes referred to as the caviar of the desert. This Mexican delicacy, which has been around since the Aztec era, can cost $50 per pound because it’s so difficult to harvest.

Hákarl: Fermented Greenland shark meat, this Viking-era Icelandic dish is traditionally buried and then hung to dry for months. It’s so pungent that Anthony Bourdain tried it once and vowed never to eat it again.

Cuy: Guinea pigs, which aren’t typically pets in Peru, but are instead special-occasion meals, dating back to Incan times.

Giant African land snails: Self-explanatory. They hail from East Africa and can be found in soups, on kebabs, or sautéed. These snails, which are each probably the size of your hand, are routinely seized by US Customs agents.

Noddy bird: In Nauru, the South Pacific island that’s one of the world’s least-visited countries, locals have been catching and eating these seabirds for centuries, using bird calls and long netted poles. One visitor said they taste like chicken, but better.—ML

wait, what?

There’s a rush for edible gold

The Golden Glizzy luxury hot dog. Golden Goat Caviar

With or without Instagram, people are gonna put a little flavorless precious metal on their meals for fun.

Since the Middle Ages, society’s upper echelons around the world have adorned certain foods with edible gold—at banquet feasts, atop pastries, and in tea. Nowadays, these displays of opulence can pay off for businesses:

• One New York City restaurant with several Guinness World Records notched the title of most expensive dessert in 2007 with a $25,000 gold-lined sundae, and received the same recognition for most expensive sandwich in 2014, with a $214 gold-flaked grilled cheese.
• One of the priciest menu items at last year’s Iowa State Fair was a $100 lobster roll topped with caviar and gold.
• This year’s Formula One Miami Grand Prix featured a similarly garnished “Golden Glizzy,” also priced at $100.

Not everyone’s impressed by all that shiny gold: Eater decried the trend as “a Plague That Must Be Stopped” back in 2018, after Popeyes launched 24-karat-coated boneless wings.—ML

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• The most popular baby names from the year you were born.
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• The perfect work dress that pairs with a cardigan for slightly chillier days.**

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