Reinventing Habsburg Cuisine in Twenty-First Century Trieste
Reinventing Habsburg Cuisine in Twenty-First Century Trieste

Summary/Abstract: The article gives an overview of nostalgia for the Habsburg Empire in twenty-first century Trieste and recognizes it as a result of a broader shift in local identifications. More precisely, it traces nostalgia on the “typical” Triestine plates. The phenomenon that the author seeks to shed light on hence reveals itself as a metamorphosis of Trieste menus. The typical Italian pasta, pizza, and tiramisu have in the past decades been replaced by strudel, goulash, and sauerkraut, which supposedly reveal the true identity of this port city. Such dishes recall the flourishing times of the nineteenth century when Trieste reached its heyday as a part of the Habsburg Empire. Along these lines also the culinary enthusiasts prefer to emphasize the Habsburg or Central European character of the Triestine cuisine and promote it as culturally distinct from the traditional Italian one. The author argues that such nostalgic yearnings do not tell much about the past but rather about the present-day and perhaps also future Trieste.

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