Alpine cuisine

The regional cuisine of different regions of the Alps is called Alpine cuisine. Despite clear regional differences, this cuisine has been characterised throughout the entire Alpine region for centuries by the isolated rural life on the alpine huts and in the mountain villages. The staple foods that are still available today include milk and dairy products, cereals and desserts, as well as meat preserved by drying and smoking.

Milk and dairy products have been a central component of Alpine cuisine for centuries. The typical alpine farming with alpine-specific dual-purpose breeds such as the Simmentaler Fleckvieh (Simmental cattle) or the Tiroler Grauvieh (Tyrol Grey) can be traced back to the beginning of our era: Even the Roman writers Pliny and Strabo reported on the good milk productivity of Alpine cattle ("bos alpinus"). Various Bergkäse varieties from the Alpine region ("caseus helveticus") are also said to have been mentioned by Pliny. In his work Naturalis historia, however, he describes cheese from the Gallic provinces as rather unpopular in Rome and compares the strong taste with that of medicine. In the meantime, cheese production in Switzerland and other Alpine countries has developed considerably: cow's milk cheeses such as Swiss Emmentaler, Allgäuer Bergkäse and French Tomme de Savoie, as well as various soft and hard cheeses made from goat's milk are now internationally known and popular.

Over the centuries, the widespread use of alpine farming and the need to store meat over the long winter season have brought about a number of long-lasting meat specialities in Alpine cuisine. Many products such as Tyrolean ("Tiroler Speck") and South Tyrolean bacon ("Südtiroler Speck"), Bündnerfleisch and Valais dried meat are now protected as protected designations of origin ("g.g.A."). But other dried meat products such as Kaminwurze also have a firm place in alpine cuisine.

The typical dishes of the Alpine region also include many variations of baked goods, preferably long-lasting varieties such as the South Tyrolean Schüttelbrot or the Vinschgauer. Particularly in winter, breads and cakes are prepared with dried fruit such as Kletzen - for example Kletzenbrot, which is widespread in Austria and South Tyrol, or Swiss specialities such as Birnbrot and Schlorzifladen. In poor mountain regions, these recipes were often created out of the necessity to stretch expensive bread cereals from the lowlands with dried fruits.