Taste of the Mountains

(So Schmecken die Berge)

Tony Cooper - Nature Protection Representative, AAC(UK)

You can now combine your mountaineering in Austria with eating high-quality, locally-produced, ecologically-friendly food in over a hundred Alpenverein huts. “So Schmecken Die Berge”, a joint project of the German, Austrian and South Tyrolean Alpenvereins, is making this happen. Look out for the Logo (see below)

As Local as Possible

For thousands of years Austria's alms - upland meadows - have been inhabited, and have been providing dairy products - milk, butter, quark and cheese, as well as jam which is widely used to flavour meat dishes. These are high-value products - but they need markets, which is where the Alpenvereins come in.

Roast pork, bread dumplings,cabbage salad, cranbery sauce, in the Grazer Hütte, Styria
Photo Leopold Geiblinger

The German Alpenverein (DAV) set up the scheme with some of their huts in 1999, and the Austrian and South Tyrolean Alpenvereins joined in 2008. The idea has been to maintain the traditional mountain farmed landscapes, to promote the regional economies, and to strive for efficient use of resources and energy.

The resulting project “So Schmecken Die Berge” (SSDB - which is almost untranslatable and only roughly means “A Taste of the Mountains”) has the motto “As local and regional as possible”. The huts use, and label as such, foodstuffs from their immediate vicinity as much as they can.

Dümlerhütte with the SSDB Logo

The project has been very successful, and is steadily expanding. By now there are 120 participating huts, with three new ones joining in 2017. Market research has shown that every other Austrian cares where their food comes from and how it was made. Perhaps they're ahead of the average Brit there but, I suspect, not ahead of the average AAC(UK) member.

The ÖAV has another project: Bergsteigerdörfer (Mountaineers' Villages) in which the Hauptverein works with selected mountain villages to help ensure that all is in place to enable low-impact tourism for their visitors. The two projects are closely linked and most of the mountaineers' villages have SSDB huts in or near them.

What can you expect to eat?

First and foremost you'll get high-quality food produced by people who care about food. The majority of the ingredients will be sourced locally, ideally within 50km of the hut, and where possible, organic. You will also find local specialities on the menu. By supporting the use of local ingredients you are helping to support the local economy: in Austria, as in many other countries in Europe and elsewhere, it's becoming a major challenge to maintain the viability of rural communities. Also, by reducing food miles this is a climate-friendly initiative. And you'll get delicious, lovingly prepared, attractive, non-standardised food without artificial flavourings: a great way to enjoy the evening after a strenuous day on the hill.

What dishes can one expect to be served?

That depends on where you are - each region has its own specialities. For example:

In the Grazer hut in Styria you'll find “Most” (dry young cider) and your salad is served with pumpkin seed oil. The Zollnersee hut in Carinthia offers the local speciality bread (Lesachtaler Brot) with curd cheese spread and green salad. And the warden in the Dümlerhütte in the Totesgebirge in central Austria serves organic beef from the nearby Kalkalpen National Park. Participating huts have committed to sourcing locally the ingredients for at least three main dishes and for a selection of drinks. Their menus highlight which these dishes are and explain where their ingredients come from.

It's a win-win situation; the warden gets a plaque affirming his scheme participation and assistance from the Alpenverein with a promotional campaign, and the local farmers get a direct and reliable market for their products. The warden becomes a kind of ambassador for his region, knowing all about its culinary idiosyncrasies and interdependencies. This is especially so for the 20-odd Bergsteigerdörfer and their huts. The huts in the Bergsteigerdörfer are, however, not automatically SSDB huts, but many are and it's been easier to develop the project there. There is a lot of material in English about the mountaineers' villages at http://www.mountainvillages.at

Ginger bread with cranbery, prunes and almond
from the Stodertel in Upper Austria

Which huts are in the SSDB scheme?

The huts can be found spread right across the Austrian Alps, with a fair number in Bavaria and a few in the South Tyrol. There is a list of participating huts at the ÖAV's website oeav.at (type “So schmecken” into the search box and the first hit is a project description with the list of huts linked from the first paragraph). Remember that many of the German Alpenverein huts in that list are in Austria. “So Schmecken Die Berge” has its roots in the nature-friendly world-view of the Alpenvereins and is part of their broad-based programme to maintain the natural environments of the Alps and to foster sustainable development there.

This article is heavily based on one by Leopold Geiblinger and Christina Schwann in Bergauf 2015/3. Leo is Nature Protection Representative of Sektion Bad Hall and a professional chef. The photos are his.

Christina Schwann is an ecologist who used to work for the Department of Land Planning and Nature Protection in the ÖAV.

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