Slow Food in Carinthia
Everything slow here! In the Carinthian Gailtal, Lesachtal and Weißensee, people have completely devoted themselves to the concept of slow food. The “Slow Food Travel Destination” keeps what it promises: There are many offers here that combine hiking with tasting bacon, alpine cheese, fish or even opium poppy seeds. For example, on the new “Brot- und Morendenweg” in the Lesachtal you can not only eat a hearty Morende (=snack) on the Steineckenalm, but also learn a lot about local bread and other slow food products, and there is also a bee educational trail. The numerous bookable hands-on experiences on the subject of traditionally produced foods are really special. Guests can make organic cheese or farmer’s ice cream with the mountain farmer, bake bread with natural sourdough, be present at the grain grinding or have the cultivation and culinary use of the local opium poppy shown to them – for example as a sweet filling in delicious “Stickblattlan”. According to the Slow Food philosophy, it is about the exchange and encounter with the producers in order to get an understanding of what really good food is. The region also offers multi-day Slow Food travel packages. (slowfood.travel)
Pilgrims in Ischgl
The Way of St. James is more associated with deprivation. In Ischgl, however, which is more associated with party, winter (and Corona), there is now the “culinary Way of St. James” in late summer. You hike with chefs from the hotel restaurants in the valley, which are decorated with quite a few toques, to huts and alpine pastures. Once there, the hikers get a dish prepared by the respective chef. For example, on August 28th, Andreas Spitzer will take you to the Ascherhütte at 2,256 meters above sea level, whereby a large part of the altitude difference can be covered with the mountain railway. In the hut there are spareribs ravioli with rolled barley and root vegetables from the three-toque chef. On September 10th, a slightly longer hike takes the “Young Chefs Paznaun” to the Jamtalhütte in Galtür, where the four young chefs will be cooking up potato noodles with sauerkraut on wild garlic sauce and carrot chips. For digestion, you can hike to the rapidly melting Jamtal glacier in a good hour. The dishes remain on the menu of the respective hut throughout the summer. You have to register for the hikes, the dishes cost around 20 euros. (paznaun-ischgl.com)
Cheese trail in the Bregenzerwald
You can eat well in many places in the Bregenzerwald, the Kässpätzle are typical.
(Photo: Alex Kaiser/Bregenzerwald Tourismus)
The Bregenzerwald is not only known for its innovative craftsmen and good cheese, but also for the high gastronomic level of many of its restaurants. There is also a pretty foothills of the Alps, so of course it makes sense to combine the two. On the one hand to hike through this landscape criss-crossed by forests and alpine pastures, on the other hand not only to eat the rolls you have brought with you, but to stop off in good inns. That is why there is an offer of one-day culinary hikes, where you can have breakfast, lunch and dessert in three different places along the way, which has a special charm. For example, on the tour from Bezau to Schönenbach you have breakfast in the mountain restaurant of the cable car, lunch in the Jagdgasthaus Egender (Kässpätzle!) and a cake in the Restaurant Komot in Bezau. There are a total of six different tours, including some that are more demanding, such as the Damülser Höhenrunde. The package price includes meal vouchers, hiking descriptions and cable car or bus tickets for the return journey. If one day is not enough for you, you can also book a five-day long-distance hike on the Käseweg, with numerous tastings and luggage transport. (bregenzerwald.at)