Fierte Inc. president Tatiana Tchoukanova wants caviar -- the vegetarian version she and her husband created -- to become as popular in Canada as it is in her native Russia.

"Have you ever seen a caviar vending machine?" Tchoukanova asked recently at her facility where Kelp Caviar is processed. "No? Well, they are all over Russia."

She and husband Ouran Tchoukanov, who together immigrated to Montreal from Kazakhstan in 1995, contend theirs is the only vegetarian version of caviar in Canada, and possibly the world. They have three flavours, are about to introduce a kosher version and have plans to export their products to Europe.

The couple wanted to create a healthy alternative to the traditional caviar made from the unfertilized eggs (better known as roe) of fish like sturgeon and salmon. They spent more than two years experimenting with potential substitutes, including chicken egg whites and gelatins, before settling on seaweed.

Tchoukanov, the company's production manager, invented the machinery used to process the seaweed that now comes primarily from the Gaspe region and also from the B.C. coast."Kelp has more health benefits and tastes better," Tchoukanova said. "It's also a marine product and sustainable."

Richard Allard, Fierte vice-president of marketing, agreed. Kelp "has good nutrients and (is available) in abundance," he said. Because it is pasteurized, the kelp product has a two-year shelf life, compared with two weeks for real caviar. That also makes it easier to ship and stock on retail shelves.

Fat-free, Kelp Caviar is all natural with no cholesterol and zero calories, Allard and Tchoukanova said. And is considerably less expensive than the real deal.While a 30-gram jar of Beluga sturgeon caviar now sells for as much as $300 -- double the price it was a year or two ago -- 100 grams of Kelp Caviar's imitation sturgeon retails for $6.99.

There is a patent pending on the formula developed by the couple and Fierte meets all the requirements of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as well as the European counterpart, the company said.

Fierte's imitation sturgeon caviar gets its colouring from black Hawaiian sea salt. The salmon-flavoured product is made orange with beta caradine and the new wasabi offering is turned green with the spice saffron.

"We work on flavour, that's a main point," Tchoukanova said.Allard said a western Canadian rail service is adding Kelp Caviar to its onboard breakfast menu and that Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Hong Kong's largest carrier, is in negotiations with Fierte to offer Kelp Caviar on flights between Asia and Vancouver.

Available at major supermarkets across the country, Fierte is also sold at natural food stores -- "a major growth area this year" -- according to Allard, and at fine food boutiques and fish markets.

Fierte also supplies sushi producers, something Allard said is helping sales, which are doubling each year.Founded as Sea-Gem Caviar in October 2004, the company changed its brand name to Kelp Caviar at the end of 2005 and changed its corporate identity to Fierte the following year.

Less than five years after her company's launch, Tchoukanova foresees pulling off the equivalent of carrying coal to Newcastle -- she sees it exporting kelp caviar to Russia.