EAT YOUR WAY OVER THE ALPS
After a day of skiing or hiking, what’s better than hearty fare?
With its Belle Époque stylings, Gothic frescoes and raging waterfall cleaving the town in two, Bad Gastein epitomizes the eccentric allure of the Austrian Alps.
Since the 19th century, its hot springs — and their healing promises — have drawn empresses, kings, artists and composers. Today, its steep slopes entice skiers and spa-goers in equal measure.
It’s renowned for its thermal properties and surreal trappings rather than culinary offerings, but author Meredith Erickson managed to eat well there all the same.
While travelling the Austrian Alps as she researched her first solo cookbook, Alpine Cooking (Ten Speed Press, 2019), she sustained herself on such hearty classics as Wiener Schnitzel, Tafelspitz (boiled beef rump) and Kaiserschmarrn (shredded pancakes).
When compared with the other three regions she covers in the extensive culinary travelogue — the Italian Alps and the Dolomites, the Swiss Alps and the French Alps — the food of the Austrian Alps stands apart.
Whereas in the mountains of Italy, Switzerland and France there are distinct culinary signatures notably unlike anywhere else in their home countries, the food of the Austrian Alps bears the mark of its capital, Vienna.
“Austrian eating in the Alps is more homogeneous than France, Switzerland and Italy. But it also has an esoteric-like edge to it. There’s something more mysterious here — it just takes going to the very, very weird town of Bad Gastein to realize that,” says Erickson. “It feels like a bit of a darker fairy tale than let’s say the sunny side of Italy is, but it’s fantastic.”
Disparate as they may be, the four overarching food cultures she features in Alpine Cooking are united by necessity, the fact that they arose from the need to eat in challenging, extreme environments.
Rooted in survival, they depend on industrious people who are prepared for any eventuality and embody the ability to turn constraints into creativity.
Erickson, who divides her time between Montreal and Milan, has co-authored several cookbooks including, most recently, Joe Beef: Surviving the Apocalypse (Appetite by Random House, 2018; with Frédéric Morin and David Mcmillan).
Themes of independence, isolation and self-sufficiency run through both works, albeit manifesting in contrasting ways.
“As my career continues, it’s quite clear that I use recipes as a punctuation in my storytelling,” says Erickson.
“(They’re) an excuse to tell the greater story, and I’m coming to the realization that the greater story is always a human story. It’s always about uncertainty, joyfulness and terror, which I think culminates in the sublime.”
Luxe resorts at the foot of Mont Blanc or plush ski chalets in Zermatt can give the Alps an exclusive quality, but Erickson stresses they’re accessible to all travellers, regardless of your budget.
“The mountains are extremely democratic,” she says, adding that you can gain a sense of true Alpine-ness by simply packing a rental car with local foods and staying at small inns or Airbnbs along the way.
The book’s 75 recipes — colour-coded by level of difficulty, just as ski runs are in the Alps — are likewise meant for cooks of all skill levels.
Far from the common misconception that Alpine cooking begins and ends with cheese, the reality is much more varied. It’s an expression of the land, as precipitous and capricious as it may be, and its intrepid inhabitants.
“It’s completely singular in the world. Each country is very different from the other, in terms of the Alps and in terms of the cuisine,” says Erickson. “There’s no avocado in the Alps. There’s no one doing sushi in the Alps.
“When people say that it’s heavy, yes, there’s meats and cheeses and bread, but if you go to the mountains and you’re hiking, you’re skiing, you’re working all day, (you want to) eat real food.
“There’s no access to junk, really. So people seeing a really broad spectrum, from the most rustic to the most sophisticated, (was important). And like anything in life, it is what you make it.”
Recipes reprinted with permission from Alpine Cooking, by Meredith Erickson, published by Ten Speed Press.