Ask an Istrian about his or her favorite dish and you’re bound to hear maneštra. Istrian maneštra is a soup specific to the region and a hallmark of Istrian cuisine.

The following is a recollection of Benito Mihovilović, a famous Poreč culinarian, on how maneštra has won recognition in the catering industry:

"It was at the beginning of the 1960s and the tourist trade was just beginning. An Italian nobleman visited the Poreč region to go hunting. After some good hunting, we cooks prepared a hunter's dinner for the guests. In those years venison wasn’t considered a specialty among the locals, so we prepared maneštra for our own pleasure. Curious, the baron entered the kitchen and asked to taste the dish we were preparing for ourselves.

To everyone's amazement, he proceeded to eat two full plates of maneštra though he had shown no interest in the venison. That's how we gained confidence in our traditional cuisine and began offering maneštra as a first-course of Viennese dinners.

It was accepted by everyone.”