Chinese Caviar and Foie Gras Shake Up Global Gourmet Dining
High-end foods from the mainland are finding their way into restaurants worldwide, and changing menus at home.
Handling fish at a sturgeon farm.
Photographer: Raul Ariano for Bloomberg BusinessweekOn the 19th floor of a glass tower overlooking Singapore’s Marina Bay, dozens of food writers and social media influencers are gathered at Vue, a restaurant known for charcuterie, ceviche and steaks served with exhilarating skyline vistas. The event is intended to introduce a new caviar lineup, but it doesn’t come from places around the Caspian Sea or any other traditional source of prestigious sturgeon roe. Instead the cans of Kaluga Queen piled on the tables proudly say “Made in China.” The chef’s team calls the salty black fish eggs “an icon of refinement that offers a fragrant aroma and a burst of rich, oceanic flavor with every bite.”
China is the world’s top exporter of caviar from sturgeon, accounting for 44% of global sales in 2024 (far ahead of No. 2 Italy, with 10%), and it’s increasingly finding its way into high-end restaurants worldwide. The growth is the fruit of government policies aimed at shifting China’s reputation from the world’s factory to a purveyor of pricey specialty goods. The country has growing production of ingredients not traditionally associated with Chinese cuisine, including foie gras, truffles and wagyu-style beef. “There has been a concerted effort by Beijing to support Chinese farmers in identifying products with higher value that might find a high-end market,” says Even Pay, an agriculture analyst at policy consultant Trivium China.