Alpine cuisine
As alpine cuisine or shortly Alpine cuisine , regional cuisine of different regions is Alps referred. Despite clear regional differences, this cuisine was shaped for centuries by the secluded rural life on the alpine pastures and in the mountain villages throughout the Alpine region. To this day, the main foodstuffs include milk and dairy products, cereals and pastries, as well as meat preserved by drying and smoking .
Typical food and drinks
Milk and cheese products
Milk and milk products have been a central component of Alpine cuisine for centuries. The typical alpine pasture with alpine-specific dual-purpose breeds such as the Simmental Fleckvieh or the Tyrolean gray cattle can be traced back to the beginning of our era: the Roman writers Pliny and Strabo already reported on the good milk yield of the Alpine cattle ("bos alpinus"). And various types of mountain cheese from the Alpine region ("caseus helveticus") are said to have already been mentioned by Pliny. In his work Naturalis historia, however , he describes the 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 the other Alpine countries has developed significantly: both cow's milk cheeses such as the Swiss Emmentaler , the Allgäu mountain cheese or the French Tomme de Savoie , as well as various soft and hard cheeses made from goat's milk are now internationally known and popular .
Bacon, sausage and dried meat
The widespread alpine farming and the need to keep stocks over the long winter season have resulted in a number of long-life meat specialties in Alpine cuisine over the centuries. Many products such as Tyrolean and South Tyrolean bacon , Bündnerfleisch and Valais dried meat are now protected as protected designations of origin under special protection. But other dried meat products such as Kaminwurze also have a permanent place in Alpine cuisine.
Bread, pasta and cakes
The physically strenuous work of the mountain shepherds and mountain farmers on the mountain pastures still requires a lot of energy, which can be obtained particularly well from carbohydrate-rich dishes and side dishes. In addition to well-known dishes such as bread rolls , semolina or Kaiserschmarrn or Graubünden barley soup made from typical European grains such as rye , barley and wheat , the robust and undemanding buckwheat also had a firm place in the Alpine menu from an early age. So are sciatt , a buckwheat cakes, and pizzoccheri (buckwheat noodles) to the specialties of the Valtellina , and in the Slovenian Oberkrain is žganci (equivalent to the Austrian buckwheat mush ) a typical poor people's food made from buckwheat flour. In Austria, among other things, mentions of the Jauntal come from the year 1442. Buckwheat is still cultivated in this area today. For this reason, it is one of the traditional foods in Austria as Jauntaler Hadn .
With the introduction of maize in Europe, it also gained importance in Alpine cuisine. Already in 1572 to find evidence for maize cultivation in Styria , and in 1573 he emerged as "türggischer wheat" in the tithe accounts of the Office Salurn on. Today it is mainly found in the form of corn grits in dishes such as polenta or Riebel .
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 Vinschgau . In winter in particular, breads and cakes are also prepared with dried fruit such as Kletzen - such as Kletzenbrot , which is popular in Austria and South Tyrol , or Swiss specialties such as pear bread and Schlorzifladen . These recipes often arose in poor mountain regions out of the need to add dried fruit to expensive bread grains from the lowlands.
In addition to the specialties already mentioned, the following dishes are also part of traditional Alpine cuisine:
Wine and spirits
The southern Alpine regions in particular have made a name for themselves as wine-growing areas thanks to the favorable climatic conditions. So who Viticulture in South Tyrol is a long tradition that can be traced on the basis of evidence into pre-Roman times. And wines from the French and Austrian mountain regions have long been known and loved nationwide.
Other specialties of the Alps include the Swiss Chèvre , the Austrian stone pine liqueur and the gentian schnapps , for which the knowledge of the locations, the harvest and the processing of the roots in the Tyrolean Paznaun were recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage in 2013 .
Regional cuisines
Due to the large geographic extent, the climatic differences and the sparse infrastructure, the alpine cuisine has always been strongly influenced by the local influences of the respective national kitchens. For example, the sweet chestnuts , which are widespread in French and Italian Alpine cuisine, only play a minor role in the cuisine of the Bavarian and Austrian Alps, while, conversely, sauerkraut , which is popular in Bavarian cuisine, is not widely used in the southern Alpine regions such as Tyrol and South Tyrol .
In addition to the spatial separation, the widespread cultivation of customs also contributes to the preservation of the traditional regional Alpine cuisine. The Swiss Culinary Heritage Association, founded in 2004, was able to set up an online encyclopedia with over 400 Swiss cuisine products with the support of the Federal Office for Agriculture and the Swiss cantons . And the slow food movement, headquartered in Piedmont , Italy , is committed to preserving regional diversity and culinary cultures.
literature
- Dominik Flammer , Sylvan Müller: The culinary legacy of the Alps . AT Verlag, Aarau, 2012; ISBN 978-3038007357
- Susanna Bingemer, Hans Gerlach: Alpine cuisine: Enjoyment & culture . Gräfe and Unzer, Munich, 2007; ISBN 978-3833802393
- Peter Peter: Cultural history of Austrian cuisine . CH Beck, Munich, 2013; ISBN 978-3406640186
- Marianne Kaltenbach: From Swiss kitchens . Gräfe and Unzer, Munich, 2007; ISBN 3774266298
Web links
- Alpine cuisine in the magazine eat & drink
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alpine cuisine: delicacies from the mountains - alpen-guide.de. Retrieved August 17, 2017 .
- ^ Marianne Kaltenbach: From Swiss kitchens . 4th edition. Gräfe and Unzer, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-7742-6629-8 , pp. 274 .
- ↑ Dr. phil. Roland Mueller: Mueller Science - Pliny: caseus - Pliny: cheese. Retrieved August 17, 2017 .
- ↑ Jauntaler Hadn . Entry No. 77 in the register of traditional foods of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Regions and Tourism . accessed on February 22, 2019.
- ^ Jon Mathieu : History of the Alps 1500-1900: Environment, Development, Society. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 9783205993636 , p. 60
- ↑ Bündner pear bread / Paun cun paira Patrimoine culinaire. Retrieved October 23, 2018 .
- ↑ Patrimoine culinaire: About us. Retrieved October 23, 2018 .