Is there caviar abroad? Kalle's caviar and other varieties in tubes

Writer: Helena Bergström

Updated: October 2026 | Is Kalle's caviar available abroad? Yes, sometimes – especially in specialty stores and in places where many Scandinavians live or vacation. But there are also other types of caviar in tubes, not least in Norway and Finland. During our many travels, we have actually come across tube caviar in far more places than we first thought.

We don't usually travel around the world looking for Swedish food. Quite the opposite – a big part of the pleasure of traveling is trying what is eaten locally. But when you're away for a long time, it can still be nice to have some familiar flavors from home.

And strangely enough, caviar in a tube has appeared time and again during our travels. On beaches in Corsica, in grocery stores in Croatia and Norway – and even on the Trans-Mongolian Railway, where a giant tube of caviar once helped save us from hunger.

Is Kalle's caviar available abroad?

Yes, you can find Kalle's caviar outside of Sweden, but you can hardly count on it being in your nearest regular grocery store. The best chance is in stores with Scandinavian products or in tourist resorts and areas where many Swedes and other Nordics live.

For example, when we were traveling around Europe in a camper van for a long time, we found Kalle's caviar at the Apolónia grocery store on the Algarve coast in Portugal and in a grocery store in Torrevieja in Spain. Both are located in areas with a large Scandinavian population.

Of course, the assortment in stores changes, so our old finds are no guarantee that Kalles can be found in the same places today. But the principle still applies: if you are in an area with many Nordics, the chances are significantly higher.

Caviar in tubes is also available in other countries

It's easy to think that caviar in a tube is a Swedish phenomenon, but it's not. When we traveled through Norway with a camper in the summer of 2026, we noticed that Norwegian grocery stores could have a really large assortment of caviar in a tube.

Norway also has a long tradition of its own. Mills launched its caviar in 1952 and still sells several varieties. Kavli also has a long history of Norwegian caviar in tubes.

We also remember seeing some caviar-like product in a tube in France, although the range there was considerably more modest than in Norway. We no longer remember exactly what it was, so that observation will have to remain a travel memory.

Kallen – the Finnish cousin of Kalles

And then there is The Call! We had a very special memory of that name, and when we started updating this article, we weren't even sure if we remembered correctly. Then we found an old photograph – and there it was: a giant tube of Abba Kallen measuring tape, 300 grams.

Kallen is the Finnish version of Kalles and was launched in Finland back in 1954. It is still available for purchase, and the boy on the packaging is the same Carl Ameln as in the Swedish Kalles. The large 300-gram tube was launched in 1993 and is still in the range.

But how did our tube of Finnish Kallen end up on a train through Russia? Well, that's a story in itself.

Caviar saved us on the Trans-Mongolian Railway

When we traveled with Transmongolian railway We had a small food problem. We had missed that on one of the sections, just when we were traveling, there would be no restaurant car attached.

And we weren't particularly well prepared. We had a few bags of Varma koppen, and since there was a samovar with hot water on board, we could at least get soup. At some stations, you could also buy food from babushkas on the platform. But our food supply was limited, to say the least.

Luckily, there were a bunch of Norwegian oil rig workers on board. They thought it was a lot of fun to get save Swedes in need and offered us some nubbe and hard bread with caviar in a tube.

And the caviar was called Kallen. We have been telling this from memory for years – and when we updated the article we found the picture proof. There lies the 300-gram tube with Kallen on the train. That some Norwegian oil platform workers traveled through Russia with a large tube of Finnish caviar is still a bit unclear, but right there and then it tasted absolutely excellent.

”Caviar Creme” in Croatia

During our long motorhome trip in Europe in 2015, we made another caviar find. At Konzum in Croatia we found a tube with the text Caviar Cream.

We didn't really know what we had bought until we tried it, but the taste was surprisingly reminiscent of the Swedish caviar in a tube that we were used to. Eventually, we were able to vary all the local Croatian specialties with the occasional caviar sandwich when the mood struck.

Kalle's caviar in the lunch bag in Corsica

That same year we also brought real Kalles from home. When you travel in a camper for a whole year, there is, after all, plenty of room to stash some Swedish favorites.

In Corsica, the tube came in handy when we went on excursions. We remember, among other things, caviar sandwiches in our lunch bags on the beaches. Saleccia and Sperone. And it is perhaps in situations like these that we appreciate caviar the most. It doesn't require any advanced cooking – just bring some bread and a tube and your picnic lunch is set.

Kalle's caviar – delicious or disgusting?

We Swedes are so used to caviar in a tube that we may not even think about what a special product it actually is. Smoked and sugar-salted fish roe, served from a tube, is not necessarily something that makes a person from another food culture immediately think: Yum!

This became particularly clear when we visited Disgusting Food Museum in Malmö. There, Kalle's caviar is among the foods from different parts of the world that can be perceived as truly disgusting by people who are not used to them.

We've also done our own highly unscientific international caviar test. When our South African friends Michelle and Henri traveled with us in a camper van in Sweden for two and a half weeks, we took the opportunity to treat them to various Swedish specialties.

Kalle's caviar was of course one of them. Michelle liked it. Henri didn't. A tie between Sweden and South Africa, then.

Who is Kalle at Kalle's Caviar?

Kalle on the tube is actually a real person. His name is Carl Ameln and was the son of Christian Ameln, who was CEO of Abba when the product was launched in 1954. The photograph used as the model for the well-known illustration had been taken by Carl's mother. Carl Ameln later said that as compensation he received, among other things, free caviar – for the rest of his life.

And here we actually have a small, unexpected personal connection. When I, Helena, was in high school in Åkersberga, I was friends with Sanna Ameln from Vaxholm. We weren't in the same class, but we did theater together. As I remember, she told me that Carl Ameln – that is, Kalle on the Kalles tube – was her uncle.

It's been a long time and we haven't been able to verify exactly what the relationship was like, so I'll have to reserve my memory. But suddenly that caviar tube almost feels like an old acquaintance.

How to find caviar abroad

If you're craving Swedish caviar while abroad, it may be worth looking in Scandinavian and international grocery stores as well as in well-stocked grocery stores in places where many Nordics live or vacation.

But don't just stare blindly at Kalles. In Norway there is a large selection of their own tube caviar and in Finland there is Kallen. In other countries there may also be products that resemble Swedish sandwich caviar. Search for, for example caviar, cod roe spread, smoked cod roe or roe paste.

And if you're going to be away for a really long time and absolutely don't want to be without it? Then the easiest solution is of course to do what we did before the long trip in the camper: Bring a tube from home.

We still travel primarily to discover the food that belongs to the country we are in. But after going through our old travel memories, we can conclude that caviar in a tube has accompanied us through life much more often than we ourselves would have thought.

Croatia, Norway, Finland, France, Corsica, the Trans-Mongolian Railway – and a museum of disgusting food in Malmö. Not bad for a small tube of fish roe.