The Flavours Of Childhood At The Alta Badia 2017 Gourmet Skisafari
The most highly-awaited foodie event is returning to the slopes in Alta Badia. The Gourmet Skisafari, the presentation-event of the A taste for skiing campaign, takes place on Sunday 10th December and welcomes seven Michelin-star chefs. Norbert Niederkofler, Matteo Metullio, Nicola Laera, Nino Graziano, Alberto Faccani, Francesco Baldissarutti and Giuseppe Biuso will showcase the Flavours of their Childhood.
The event is taking place on the snow in Alta Badia, in the heart of the Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which opens its ski slopes on 2nd December.
You can remember people, places, feelings or moments. Each and every one of our memories also preserves the scents and flavours that remind us of our childhood. The slogan of this year's edition of A taste for skiing, which opens with the now unmissable Gourmet Skisafari event on Sunday 10th December, is "Childhood Flavours". The sixth edition of the culinary event will therefore feature dishes that the participating gourmet chefs loved the most when they were children. They have revisited the recipes, drawing inspiration from memories of what their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles once put on the dinner table. On the occasion of Gourmet Skisafari, the event which now best showcases A taste for skiing, each chef is allocated a mountain hut in which they will prepare their dish from 11 am to 3 pm. Skiers will move from one hut to the next on skis to taste the chefs' creations, which are paired with a wine from South Tyrol, selected by the best wine conoisseurs in the region. There will also be the opportunity to get to know the chefs in person and to learn the story behind their dish.
THE CHEFS AND THEIR STORIES
Seven chefs are taking part in the sixth edition of the Gourmet Skisafari and each one will bring the excellence of their land to the table.
"I may have a German accent, but I'm 100% Italian and, when it comes to cooking, mums always know best. The combination of mum's cooking and my rebellious curiosity, which took me around the world when I was younger, is the inspiration behind "Once upon a time there was a trout", says Norbert Niederkofler (St.Hubertus at the Relais & Chateaux Hotel Rosa Alpina – Alta Badia, 2 Michelin stars), who can be found at the Club Moritzino hut. Matteo Metullio (La Siriola at Hotel Ciasa Salares – Alta Badia, 1 Michelin star), will be the chef taking over the Piz Arlara hut where, alongside his mother, he will be making "Tripe in sauce with potatoes”. His mother Roberta inspired him to cook from a very young age: already aged twelve, Matteo Metullio knew cooking would play an important part in his future.
The Bioch mountain hut will welcome chef Nicola Laera (La Stüa de Michil at Hotel La Perla – Alta Badia, 1 Michelin star), for which he will create "Veal cheek with gremolata sauce, parsley root and roasted prunes". The fond memories of afternoons spent with granddad Lois during his childhood are the source of inspiration behind this recipe.
Nino Graziano is the chef who is travelling the furthest to join us in Alta Badia; he now lives in Moscow where he has opened a restaurant called Semifreddo (2 Michelin stars). The name of the restaurant pays homage to his grandmother who used to prepare him a delicious semifreddo dessert as a treat. Guests visiting him at the Bamby mountain hut will get to try "Artichoke, egg and potatoes". Cooking is a passion which has accompanied chef Alberto Faccani (Magnolia Restaurant – Cesenatico, 1 Michelin star) since he was a child, when he would spend his Sundays and the holidays at the houses of Ada and Filippina, his grandmothers. He has drawn the inspiration for his creation from their recipes for breadcrumb noodles in broth, which he will make at the Gourmet Skisafari at the I Tablá mountain hut.
Francesco Baldissarutti (Perbellini Restaurant– Isola Rizza (Verona), 1 Michelin star) will call the Col Alt mountain hut his kitchen; he is going to prepare “Spätzle with lake algae, served in chicken broth with smoked trout and its eggs". For this creation, the chef drew his inspiration from a dish made by one of his father's aunts, who also happened to be a cook at a nuns' convent. When he would go to visit aunt Rina, she would often cook one of his favourite dishes for him, wood-stove grilled trout.
At the Las Vegas mountain hut, skiers can meet Giuseppe Biuso (Il Cappero at Therasia Resort – Isola di Vulcano, Sicily, 1 Michelin star), who will delight guests with his " octopus in sauce", a traditional Sunday dish his mother Grazia once used to make.
Tickets to take part in the Gourmet Skisafari can be purchased in advance at the tourist offices in Alta Badia starting from a week before the event, or on the day of the event directly at the participating mountain huts.
