What GP mentions might really be just an echo of an even earlier times (60's, maybe 70's) when caviar was pretty much the cheapest thing to be served in booze b

What GP mentions might really be just an echo of an even earlier times (60's, maybe 70's) when caviar was pretty much the cheapest thing to be served in booze bars (USSR didn't really care much about actually protecting the fish, or anything else) so lots of people developed taste for it. When I was a kid it was stuff you'd mix into mashed potatoes to make them taste better, and it came in huge (a Kilo, I think) tins. But outside of ex-USSR, I don't see why people would pay that much for it. Is it delicious? Yes. Is it that delicious? Not really, for money you can get more of something even tastier, I think.