Elitist no more, caviar is turning casual

When Burger King announced it was selling caviar with nuggets at its French restaurants on April 1, many people assumed it was an April Fool's joke.

- MARINE DO-VALE

But as news spread on social media, buyers rushed to try one of the world’s most expensive delicacies paired with a humble and highly commoditised piece of deep-fried chicken while limited stocks lasted.

For €19 (about 700 baht), they got seven nuggets, mayonnaise and a 10g pouch of Chinese-origin caviar from the Astana brand, which explained it had worked with the fast-food giant to “make the caviar of chefs available to as many people as possible”.

It was a marketing coup — the story quickly went viral after being picked up by French news outlets — but it also revealed how the image of caviar as an out-of-reach luxury product is rapidly changing.

As with most new food trends, interest in the exclusive fish eggs is being driven by online influencers and celebrities.

Rihanna posted a video to her 150 million followers on Instagram on Dec 20 last year showing her eating nuggets topped with caviar.

“I don’t like how much I like this,” she began.

US celebrity chef David Chang is also a champion, with a 2022 Instagram video showing him dunking a deep-fried chicken leg into a 1kg tin of caviar — “one of my favourite most obscene things to do” — which racked up more than 3 million views.