Word: caviar
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...illegal trade ranges from private individuals flogging jars of caviar at open-air market stalls to well-organized smuggling operations, with paid couriers picking up pre-packed black market roe for delivery to specified customers...
...scenes reminiscent of Britain's infamous trade of stolen gadgets in pubs, furtive traders today knock at the backdoor of upscale restaurants offering a new contraband: caviar. London's hordes of Russian oligarchs and hedge-fund yuppies have sent demand soaring for "black gold," with top varieties such as Beluga now selling for over $3,000 a kilo, whilst the rarest varieties, such as Almas ($50,000 per kilo), whose eggs are white, have a four-year waiting list. The soaring demand for sturgeon roe has created lucrative opportunities for "caviar cowboys," who sell illegally smuggled caviar to unscrupulous chefs...
...Paul Merritt, a Michelin-starred chef and BBC TV food presenter, has confirmed that he was often offered caviar at half the normal price by suspicious characters. "Three or four people would ring up and say, 'I've got some caviar. Would you like some now?' -just like you would if you had someone calling up and saying, 'I've got a few dodgy stereos'," said Merritt...
...Once the exclusive preserve of the extremely wealthy, caviar's recent growing appeal has come at the price of dwindling fish stocks. Although the trade is supposed to be tightly regulated by quotas, the messy breakup of the Soviet Union led to a flourishing black market that has proved difficult to suppress. According to the World Wildlife Fund, many sturgeon species are now being pushed to the brink of extinction. Although the British government recently introduced tough new labeling requirements for all caviar sold in the U.K., so far caviar smuggling has passed with little sanction. EU countries imported...
...astronauts preparing for the moon voyage, he found a powerful supporter: President John F. Kennedy. "He welcomed the project with great enthusiasm," Antonioni said of JFK. "He invited me to the White House to talk about this film." This was long before Blowup, when the filmmaker was still a caviar taste in the U.S. (I'll bet Jackie urged her husband to spend some time with the dapper Italian...