Food Stuff

How about this conversation-starter for the new year: Sacramento produces some of the world’s finest caviar. That’s right, Tsar Nicoulai Caviar, based in San Francisco, pioneered the farming of caviar from Sacramento River white sturgeon. The sturgeon are fed a natural diet and are raised in fresh artesian-well water. Tsar Nicoulai calls its California Estate Osetra the “finest tasting product we have in stock,” and the local caviar has been a hit at white-tablecloth restaurants all over the nation. At $51 per ounce, the California product ain’t cheap, but it costs about 30 percent less than the beluga caviar that the company imports. Even better, the farm-raised caviar helps protect the rapidly disappearing beluga sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. So, if your New Year’s resolution is to think globally, act locally and live hedonistically, check out Tsar Nicoulai. Available at Nugget Markets, Taylor’s Market and David Berkley; www.tsarnicoulai.com and (800) 95-CAVIAR.