When Anne-Katrin Weber thinks of the Alps, she doesn’t see the mountains, but a mountain of golden yellow Kaiserschmarren. For them, the Alps are Schlutzkrapfen and dumplings – lots and lots of dumplings. Not to forget strudel. The cook and nutritionist writes that her love for the mountains merges with her love for the culinary delicacies of the Alpine regions. Her cookbook “Hearty Vegetarian – Alpine Cuisine” invites you to take a journey through Alpine cuisine – from Germany to Austria, Switzerland, France and Italy to Slovenia.
The Alps are almost 200,000 square kilometers, 13 million people, countless countries and languages. What unites them: preserving a traditional, simple and original cuisine. Life in mountain villages and on the alpine pastures was modest, dependent on what the soil and the animals provided. The isolation meant that the food was mainly vegetarian. Grain was the main source of satiety; meat was rarely available. “To this day, Alpine cuisine is primarily characterized by two characteristics,” writes Weber. “On the one hand, the main foods are milk and grain, and on the other hand, it’s about preserving food.”
The rediscovery of Alpine cuisine
Despite a certain clarity of the food available, Alpine cuisine is not boring. Rather, it can serve as a template for what many people strive for today – regional, seasonal food, ideally from farmers, butchers and dairies that they trust. Weber shows how diverse the dishes from the mountains are in more than 70 recipes. It involves braised, baked, fried, roasted and pickled. The selection of recipes includes classics such as yeast dumplings and Schlutzkrapfen as well as ideas for a hearty snack. There are also tips for the pantry.
“Hearty vegetarian – Alpine cuisine: stewing, baking, roasting, roasting, pickling” by Anne-Katrin Weber won silver at the German Cookbook Prize, 208 pages, 33 euros. We present three recipes to you in the photo series.
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