How caviar went mainstream | The Week

The food “once fit for kings” is no longer the luxury ingredient it was, said Sudi Pigott in The Telegraph.

Though it still has its royal fans (King Charles is said to have a “penchant”), the salt-cured fish roe has been “democratised” since becoming a TikTok trend and can now be found on “menus and social feeds across the UK”. And it’s selling accordingly.

Sales at Fortnum & Mason saw a 6% uplift in December compared to the previous December. The UK market is set to go only one way, too, with growth of 40% predicted over the next two years.

The fashion started, as it so often does, with influencers – this time doing caviar “bumps” online: putting a spoonful on the back of their hand, giving it a “few seconds to warm, then licking it off in one hit, preferably followed by a swig of champagne or ice-cold vodka,” said Pigott.

After Taylor Swift followed suit, the caviar bumps’ status as a viral trend was set. And why not? It’s no more expensive than a G&T in a pub: “£30 for the smallest 10g tin of entry-level caviar, enough for a bump for four friends”.

Thanks are due to the ban on wild caviar in 2006 and sustainable farming becoming the norm worldwide, meaning a “greater choice of suppliers” and therefore “better affordability”.

Caviar bumps are finding their way onto menus now, and come from larger tins, said Delicious magazine’s Kate Gibbs, which makes for “a cost effective way to give their customers something playful and delicious”.

Supermarkets have got in on the game, too, with Waitrose selling “affordable” and “everyday” caviar at £5.50 per 100g, reported The Grocer’s Grace Duncan.

The Dorchester offers caviar as a “side” for £10, said Pigott, and the demand is “insane” – so far, so luxe, but it’s not just at the high-end that it’s in demand.

For a cost-of-living crisis option, Exmoor Caviar sells Luxury Caviar Crisps at £3.50 a bag. Truly democratic.