The food in the Val Pusteria-Pustertal and its side valleys tastes like the landscape that brings its forth: genuine and unspoiled, natural, powerful, and nourishing. Elsewhere in South Tyrol-Südtirol, Mediterranean cuisine may have equal rights along with Tyrolean cuisine, but in the Kronplatz region, nestled right in the middle of the mountain giants of the Valle Aurina-Ahrntal, the Zillertal Alps, and the peaks of the Dolomites, the food tastes very much like a mountain.
And although the points further south have certainly also left their fine tones behind everywhere here, what dominates the menu are Schlutzkrapfen [ravioli] in browned butter, steaming Knödel [dumplings] in the most varied of colors, and the aromatic Kniekiechl [jam fritters]. Val Pusteria potatoes are used in countless variations, but most popularly they make their way through in the form of Erdäpflblattln [deep-fried potato cakes] right alongside spicy sauerkraut.
COOKING RECIPES
So at which of the many restaurants, inns, and other dining establishments of the Kronplatz region do things taste the best? The answer can only be: the dumplings taste the best when they’re served at an Alpine refuge at a lofty elevation, the pizza tastes the best at the Italian pizzeria on the corner, the steak tastes the best in the gourmet restaurant, and the freshly prepared roast pork tastes the best at the historical inn. Of course. A vacation in the Kronplatz region turns into a culinary journey. The inspiration of the spicy, the crispness of the fresh, the heartiness of the down to earth. That’s how they taste, the mountains.
