Is it true that Soviet people ate black caviar by the spoonful?

Nov 22 2023

Maria Bunina

V.Kaushanov/Sputnik

In the 20th century, Soviet citizens enjoyed dining on black caviar, and it was difficult to imagine that eventually it would become a delicacy available only to a privileged few.

Today, black caviar is considered an expensive delicacy that few can afford. In the famous Soviet movie “White Sun of the Desert” (1969) by Vladimir Motyl the main character forced himself to eat black caviar with a tablespoon from a large bowl. He even complained that he couldn’t eat this “damned” caviar every day; that’s how sick he was of it. The plot of the movie took place on the shores of the Caspian Sea, where 90% of all black caviar in the USSR was harvested.

“White Sun of the Desert” (1969) by Vladimir Motyl.

Film studios "Lenfilm", "Mosfilm", Experimental creative association

The main point is not the proximity to the place of caviar harvesting, but rather the fact that from the mid 1920s right until the beginning of the 1980s black caviar was in abundance in the USSR as the sturgeon population increased. At the end of 1929 the USSR exported approximately 800 tons of black caviar, earning $1 billion in hard currency in today’s terms. Black caviar was listed as one of the ten key Soviet exports.

Yuri Abramochkin/Sputnik

The average Soviet person could buy a jar of black caviar without seriously impacting their family budget; and it wasn’t a small jar. Caviar was sold at stores in bulk, and many former Soviet citizens remember three-liter jars of black caviar that their parents brought home.

Soviet pediatricians recommended young children to eat caviar in order to prevent anemia, because it was a valuable source of iron and other important minerals needed for good health. During World War II and after the war, black caviar was included in the food rations for submarine crews, pilots, and polar explorers.

Caspian сaviar production association.

Ivan Zaharchenko/Sputnik

The price of black caviar in Soviet times was quite affordable. In the 1950s it cost only twice as much as red caviar. At the end of the 1970s a small jar of black caviar cost 4.5 rubles – about the same as a bottle of vodka.

Caviar abundance, however, ended in the 1980s. This was due to a number of factors: Poaching; a decrease in the number of sturgeon fish; and the subsequent government fishing ban made it practically unattainable for the majority of Russians.

Is it true that Soviet people ate black caviar by the spoonful?

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