California Caviar Replacing Wild Caviar

Dear rich people of the world: If you're buying real, wild caviar, you have too much money.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the new capital of caviar production is none other than Sacramento, Calif., where farm-raised caviar is king.

Naturally, wild caviar has been the symbol of high-end dining and luxury, but overfishing, greed, pollution, and poaching (see: You've Got Mail) have led to a depletion of wild caviar. "Wild caviar is gone, and we can all forget about it," Alexandre Petrossian, of the 92-year-old French caviar company, told the LA Times. So farm-raised sturgeon and their roes are "the next generation of caviar," apparently.

Sacramento County is now reportedly the center of caviar production, churning out 70 to 80 percent of U.S. production, and American caviar is apparently taking off, Petrossian says. The reason? "It's not too salty, not too fishy, looks presentable, and has larger, firm eggs." Northern California caviar prices range from $62 to $88 for 1 ounce, but that's nothing compared to the wild caviar the Awl found, selling for more than $152 an ounce.