Today caviar is renowned as a gourmet delicacy, but few realize that it became a luxury food only in recent times. In Caviar, Inga Saffron tells, for the first time, the story of how the virgin eggs of the prehistoric-looking sturgeon were transformed from a humble peasant food into a czar's delicacy -- and ultimately a coveted status symbol for a rising middle class. She explores how the glistening black eggs became a culinary extravagance, while taking readers on a revealing excursion into the murky world of caviar on the banks of the Volga River and Caspian Sea in Russia, the Elbe River in Europe, and the Hudson and Delaware Rivers in the United States. Saffron describes the complex industry caviar has spawned, illustrating the unfortunate consequences of mass marketing such a rare commodity.The story of caviar has long been one of conflict, crisis, extravagant claims, and colorful characters, such as the Greek sea captain who first discovered the secret method of transporting the perishable delicacy to Europe, the canny German businessmen who encountered a wealth of untapped sturgeon in American waters, the Russian Communists w