The Hindu Business Line : Caviar to the `general'

As the VIP jumbo jet flew gracefully over the Indian Ocean on its way to Mauritius, a charming airhostess came with the ultimate epicurean fare — a glass of champagne and a plate of caviar.

The connoisseur says the most renowned pairing for caviar is champagne. The crisp acidity of the champagne matches best the caviar's delicate flavour.

I accepted the glass of bubbly and politely declined the caviar, being a vegetarian. My younger journalist colleague, a Bengali, who was also part of the media accompanying the VIP, accepted both. His excitement was palpable as he was about to taste caviar for the first time.

The obscure delicacy

Since I knew something about caviar, I put him to wise about the royal dish. The dictionary describes caviar as the roe of a large fish, especially sturgeon that is salted, seasoned, and eaten as a delicacy or relish.

Though Venetian trading ships first brought caviar to Europe from the Black Sea in the 14th century, it remained in obscurity for another 300 years. Shakespeare, in Hamlet, used the word caviar to refer to something unknown and obscure.

Today, the best caviar comes from sturgeon that is fished from the Caspian Sea by Azerbaijan, Iran, and Russia. The sturgeon is an endangered species. A caviar smuggler can get up to $20,000 for the contents of a single suitcase, which will sell `on the street' for as much as $100,000. The Russian Tsars and the emperors of Manchuria coveted caviar as "food of the gods".

Regal recipe

To my surprise, my fish-familiar colleague did not much relish the caviar and left it virtually untouched after a few hesitant bites. This indeed was a classic evidence of what Shakespeare said about "taking caviar to the general".

This regal recipe requires a refined cultivation of taste to derive pleasure on the palate. Once the preserve of the royal and now the very rich, caviar's taste is certain to be lost on the `untrained taste buds'.

The exclusivity

In Shakespeare's time, the 16th century Elizabethan period, the word `general' also meant the common people. Similarly, the word `vulgar' was a euphemism for something common place, and the verb `vulgarise', `to make common place' or `trivialise'.

The eminent Shakespearean critic, A. C. Bradley, was called "the vulgariser" of Shakespeare by his detractors. Their contention was that Bradley interpreted Shakespeare threadbare, so much so that he `demystified' the Bard, making him common place!

But the caviar experience of my friend perhaps shows certain things will continue to retain their exclusivity.

(A former Deputy Editor with PTI, the author is a New Delhi-based freelance journalist. Feedback can be sent to rajamanirc@gmail.com)

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