The history of caviar is intrinsically connected to the sturgeon, and began more than 200 million years ago with the appearance of sturgeons on the Earth. The time of the Persian Empire was the beginnings of caviar in Iran, considered to have medicinal properties and be a source of energy (a widely-held belief still today). Iran, as one of the few countries in the Caspian Sea. undertook wide-reaching efforts to rebuild the population of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea.

Although the Persians are generally credited with being the pioneers of caviar production and consumption, Russians, during the reign of Prince Vladimir of Kiev, were the first to develop the art of caviar. There was another reason behind why Iranian caviar consumption comes only second after Russia. According to a historian called G. Nebolsin, at a short time, Iran weren’t interested in anything that involved sturgeons based on their beliefs.

In 1953 Iran breaks the treaty with Russia and officially creates the Shilat, a single company owned by the state (however, Shilat started its activities informally in 1927), the world begins to know Iran’s caviar and the controversy arises as to which is the best caviar, whether the Iranian or the Russian one.