FOOD IN TRIESTE
To understand the food in Trieste, you first have to look to the past. The historical turbulence is perhaps matched only by the swirling water of the Gulf of Trieste, whipped up by the wind cascading down from the Karst, the plateau the surrounds the city. The first stable period in the city’s history, after the fall of Rome, came in the 14th century, when the Habsburg Empire acquired the city from the Venetians. Then, in 1719, it was declared a free port of the Austrian Empire, signalling the start of Trieste’s prosperity. Over the next 200 years, it became one of the great European ports, rivalled only by Rotterdam, and much of the food reflected this. Dishes from Paris to Istanbul reached the city’s palate. It became the coffee capital of Europe - a designation they still hold today - and the wealth flowed in. The grand seafront would not look out of place in Imperial Vienna, and Piazza Unità (whisper it) puts St. Mark’s Square to shame.
This came crashing down in the wake of the First World War. The Italians annexed the city, before losing it for a decade post-Second World War, when it became the Free Territory of Trieste. It eventually returned to Italy after a plebiscite in 1954. The cuisine reflects this confluence of cultures. The sauerkraut and sachertorte suggest its imperial past whilst gulasch and pork came from the Karst, Slovenia, and beyond, as far as Hungary.