Traditional Istrian Cooking (cookbook in progress)

Istra or Istria is a heart-shaped peninsula on the north of the Adriatic Sea, opposite Venice and it is considered a bridge between Slovenia, Italy and Croatia. Already an attractive tourist destination, Istria has recently also been discovered by property hunters as the new Tuscany or the new Provence.

Real Istrian food is simple peasant food – the one we’ve grown up with in our mothers’ and grandmothers’ kitchens on our small farms. It is healthy, tasty and quite easy to prepare.

During its dynamic history, Istria was for many years part of the Venetian Republic and its geographical proximity to Italy has left a significant trace in its cuisine. A large variety of home made pastas, usually served with simple sauces, easy to prepare vegetable dishes and a local version of the Italian “minestrone” - a thick vegetable soup with pieces of cured meat, called “manestra” (pronounced as “maneshtra”) – indicate the heritage of Italian presence in the past. However, more continental dishes like stuffed papers and “sarma” (stuffed cabbage leaves) are also widely spread in Istria, showing its ties with the cooking of the rest of Croatia and the Balkans.

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY



Istria is a unique place that has welcomed visitors and settlers from other parts of the world as long as it existed. Histri were mentioned for the first time in the 6th century B.C. by Hecataeus of Miletus in his Tour Round the World . The Romans were then followed by the Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Avars, Langobards, Slavs, Franks, Venetians, Genoese, Romanians, Magyars and Austrians, and in the last century Italians, Serbs and Croats.

What is geographically known as the Istrian peninsula is politically divided between Croatia and Slovenia. Multi-ethnic and multi-lingual, the Istrian people are part of a rich and colourful image. A large portion of Istrian’s soil is red, the other one is grey-white and the remaining part is white.

Over centuries many people came to Istria with various purposes; to rule, to hide or just to enjoy its nature and food. Even the world’s most famous womaniser, the Venetian Casanova visited Istria and in his diaries described how he made love in the costal town of Vrsar. Spaniard Marcus Valerius Martialis wrote about his native Cordoba: “Cordoba, you who are more fertile than oily Venafro and as perfect as Istrian oil in an amphora.” Dante Alighieri apparently visited the 14th-century Pola and mentioned it in his guided tour through allegorical Hell. Centuries later, Jules Verne put his literary hero Mathias Sandorf into caves of Pazin even though he never set foot there. As homage to this literary work, Pazin has set up its own Jules Verne society.

Irish writer James Joyce apparently conceived the protagonist of Ulysses during his stay in Pula in winter 1904/05, where he was teaching English to Austro-Hungarian officers at the Berlitz School.

Istrian climate is a cross between cold northern winds bringing winter frost and snow and the southern Mediterranean warmth with intense summer sun. It has a rocky coast and very clear sea, as well as unspoiled hilltop villages inland. Istria is bursting with unspoiled pine forests and a wide range of wild animals and flavours. From the famous truffle to various kinds of figs and peaches, Istria is also known for its olive oil as well as a variety of local wines, with malvasia (white), and teran (red) being the most famous.

TRADITIONAL ISTRIAN CUISINE



To understand more about Istrian cuisine it is very important to know a little bit about its history. It’s here that Germanic, Romanic and Slavonic cultures crashed, but also bridged their differences and integrated into a unique cultural and culinary entity. All these different traditions have left their traces on the Istrian table - from seafood dishes to various home made pastas and “manestras”. In Istria you can eat grilled meats and roasted octopus, as well as pasta with truffles and smoked sausages and ham. Every day there is another kind of "manestra" or “fritaja” (Istrian version of French omlette or Spanish tortilla). And at the end of the meal there is always a sweet, such as “pinca”, “fritule” or “krostule”.


I would like to introduce the simplest and unique recipes of Istra but also invent some modern recipes using the traditional ingredients, styles and concepts of Istria.