Finding Food Around the Corner
Cheeses, asparagus, smoked salmon: there’s plenty of locally produced delicious food around where we live. I like the fact that we are surrounded by fields dedicated to food production. As a parent, it delights me that we can see the brussels sprouts grow around the corner. It gives the kids a good sense of where food comes from. We have visited farms, saw how cows are milked and our son has even helped milk goats. A closeness to the source of their food is a beautiful thing.
There’s another benefit to living so close to the source: getting locally produced food is more sustainable, and helps us to leave a better place for our kids. But how do you turn this food into delicious dishes? What I noticed while traveling, is the growing trend of restaurants using locally produced quality food. I love it when a restaurant includes that in the menu items. It shows a willingness to scout locally for the best food on offer, often produced by small operations.
Maybe the most beautiful thing about local food, is that if you know the person producing your food, and can visit the farm or factory, you know exactly where it comes from. There’s a connection from source to plate, and a very tangible transparency.
It’s not just in the neigbourhood. The trend of sourcing food locally is a global one. It’s the 100 Mile Menu and the Slow Food movement. Even better, it helps you explore your taste, because it is also very much about seasonality: every season has its typical food, that is best harvested at that specific time of the year for optimal taste and freshness.
So, when were given the menu and an explanation of the daily suggestions in the Auberge La Tzoumaz, I was in my element. Quite far from home — we crossed 2 defunct and 1 active border to get here — the same trend has taken hold here: a starter made from cheese produced in the village, beer from a town over and wine from the region. Next to that: home made terrines. We enjoyed most of it. Especially the cheese and the terrines were very good. It was clear that the people in the restaurant were familiar with the cheesemaker. And on the other days, we could see the cows grazing in the mountain-side pastures. We saw them eating these delicious alpine herbs, as we tried to evade their cow pies while riding down the mountain on our trottinettes. Our holiday told in a delicious dish.
Want to know what I think about places mentioned in this post and more? Follow me on TripAdvisor to get my take on lovely places around the world. But be careful, it might inspire you to wander and wonder.
