Texas caviar was created in the
U.S. state of
Texas around 1940 by
Helen Corbitt, a native New Yorker who later became director of food service for the Zodiac Room at
Neiman Marcus in
Dallas,
Texas. She first served the dish on
New Year's Eve at the
Houston Country Club. When she later served it at the
Driskill Hotel in
Austin, Texas, it was given its name, "Texas caviar," as a humorous comparison to true
caviar, an expensive
hors d'oeuvre of salt-cured
fish roe. ==Variations==