CHIMALHUACAN, Mexico — In a shallow lake on the outskirts of Mexico City, a handful of farmers still harvest the eggs of an evasive, fingertip-size water bug in a bid to keep alive a culinary tradition dating at least to the Aztec empire.
Caviar is typically associated with sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. What’s known as Mexican caviar is made from the tiny eggs of an aquatic insect of the corixidae family, also known as the “bird fly” because birds like to eat it.
