More notes from the trails… and in some cases the edge… literally!
In some cases – its all that’s for dinner! But don’t misinterpret my words… All four major food groups are well represented… cheese, bacon, bread and beer. The rouge alpine lifestyle often demands the 1-2-power punch of protein and carb energy for scaling walls and herding swiss-brown cattle up steep alpine meadow cliffs (…well – they kind of herd themselves most of the time, but the former paints a picture we yanks can better associate with). But the Swiss are rather health conscious, much like the Scandinavians, despite what it may sound like. The whole organic and biodynamic movement (called BEO here) is supported by the masses at every farmers market and a growing number of small and larger grocery stores. While exotic cuisine for them may still consist of “rice-kashimere” and curries, the traditional kitchen is well balanced with garden-fresh salads and veggies. As visitors – we just don’t notice this part much!
Almost every night – whether in a hut at 2800m or a fancy bistro in the valley, every day at every meal you will find cheese and porcine-products. Pot after pot of lactic-love flows from the kitchen in the forms of fondue, racklette, emmentaler-roestti, alpler-maccaroni and (my favorite) the kaseschnittes. The later is a supersized-alpine-version of grilled cheese, with slices of bacon or ham and sometimes a perfectly fried egg (breakfast lunch AND dinner of champions!) Even the veal is accompanied by ham and cheese in a classic CordonBleu.
“Never mind the beef… This here is cheese country, son!” We over hear a farmer telling his son in a rustic highland dialect (uh, well, not really – again just painting a picture)…
Well – we did have some nice organic-free-range local beef filets and Chateaux-Briand at a fancy 3-star hotel in Kandersteg. Its interesting to note that the countries of origin are listed for all meets and fish listed on the menu. This was due to the mad-cow thing. A lot of the beef (if not domestic) came from Brazil, US, or SouthAfrica, and lamb from the Ausies.
In some cases – its all that’s for dinner! But don’t misinterpret my words… All four major food groups are well represented… cheese, bacon, bread and beer. The rouge alpine lifestyle often demands the 1-2-power punch of protein and carb energy for scaling walls and herding swiss-brown cattle up steep alpine meadow cliffs (…well – they kind of herd themselves most of the time, but the former paints a picture we yanks can better associate with). But the Swiss are rather health conscious, much like the Scandinavians, despite what it may sound like. The whole organic and biodynamic movement (called BEO here) is supported by the masses at every farmers market and a growing number of small and larger grocery stores. While exotic cuisine for them may still consist of “rice-kashimere” and curries, the traditional kitchen is well balanced with garden-fresh salads and veggies. As visitors – we just don’t notice this part much!
Almost every night – whether in a hut at 2800m or a fancy bistro in the valley, every day at every meal you will find cheese and porcine-products. Pot after pot of lactic-love flows from the kitchen in the forms of fondue, racklette, emmentaler-roestti, alpler-maccaroni and (my favorite) the kaseschnittes. The later is a supersized-alpine-version of grilled cheese, with slices of bacon or ham and sometimes a perfectly fried egg (breakfast lunch AND dinner of champions!) Even the veal is accompanied by ham and cheese in a classic CordonBleu.
“Never mind the beef… This here is cheese country, son!” We over hear a farmer telling his son in a rustic highland dialect (uh, well, not really – again just painting a picture)…
Well – we did have some nice organic-free-range local beef filets and Chateaux-Briand at a fancy 3-star hotel in Kandersteg. Its interesting to note that the countries of origin are listed for all meets and fish listed on the menu. This was due to the mad-cow thing. A lot of the beef (if not domestic) came from Brazil, US, or SouthAfrica, and lamb from the Ausies.
