It
is said that the first people tasting caviar on the shores of the
Caspian were the Azeri and Persians living at the Kura River on the
area of the former Persian Empire. They called it khaviar from the
Persian dialect (khya meaning egg). The Persians believed that caviar
was a medicine, which can cure many diseases, and also a source of
energy. Aristotle, the Greek scholar in the 4th century B.C., described
caviar as a delicacy made from the roe (eggs) of the sturgeon fish.
In the
times of the Roman Empire, caviar was regarded as such a cuisine that
it was presented among garlands of flowers, and trumpets heralded as it
was presented to the royals. The main consumer of caviar in old days
other than the nobles around the world was the shah and his revered
friends around the world during the Persian Empire. Every year the Shah
would receive tones of the best caviar as an annual tax from the
fishermen and lavish the royals and their friends with the best the
Caspian Sea has to offer. The Shah''s caviar would be the prime selected
Golden Ossetra, a favorite of the Imperial dynasty; Hence the name
Imperial Ossetra.
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