A Mediterranean delicacy made from salted and pressed fish roe (eggs), especially from gray mullet or tuna, usually served sliced with bread or oil.
From Italian 'bottarga', which comes from Greek 'oiarikon' (fish roe). The word traveled through Mediterranean trade routes and entered English via Italian merchants in the 16th-17th centuries.
Botargo is one of history's oldest foods—similar preparations of fish roe date back to ancient Egypt and Rome. Today it's a luxury ingredient, but it originated as a brilliant preservation method before refrigeration, when salting and pressing kept protein edible for months.
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