Crazy Austrian Cuisine

I promised this post a while ago and while it’s not like I am disappointing my legion of followers (ha!) I thought I better cough it up, if only to warn future visitors to Austria. These are a few foodie snaps from our not so recent snowboarding trip to St. Anton, Austria, oh and one of me in action!

No offense to the Austrians, but let’s face it… they’ve never met a carb they didn’t like. Our trip was characterised by meats wrapped in other meats, breads, dumplings and assorted noodles. Fruit never really gets a look in and salad, my staple go-to meal, was tainted by odd apple sauce substances, too much mayo and pickled things.

Breakfast was assorted breads with cheese and sliced meats, lunch was a choice of some kind of dumpling, meats or meaty soups and dinner was more of the same or fondue. After every meal I felt like I was swimming against a tide of food. I just don’t know how the Austrians do it… they all seem healthy and strapping, but their insides must be breaded and fried.

Schnitzel, sausage wrapped in bacon.

Fleischkase – which possibly translates as meat cheese, but is actually some slab of meat, often with a fried egg on top.

Gah, Weiss Schnitzel and pretzels

See what I mean about the salad.

Yes, this is actually food. It’s Spinach Dumplings with a Gorgonzola sauce or known as Indigestion Waiting to Happen.

Rosti with bacon, chips and a fried egg.

Fondue, eugh always seems like a good idea at the time but translates as big ball of cheese sitting in my belly.

Saltimbocca Romana – or a hot mess. Classic Italian dish, translates as hopinthemouth, veal wrapped as prosciutto with risotto balls.

Chocolate bunny. I didn’t let him hop away.

Creamy, appley pastry thing.

They like to dye their boiled eggs, I don’t know why.

Apfelstrudel!!!!!

Since I am a vegetarian, it is weird that I have so many pictures of meat, right? But the Austrians are not so fond of vegetarian food, so you mostly just get pasta or strange salads.  I did enjoy seeing my holiday companions chow into their bizarre lunches and not end up curled up in the foetal position on the Alps, rocking back and forth.

Raw food, Underground Restaurants and Austrian fare

Food wise, things have been pretty slow in the world of Eater’s Regret recently. I was delighted to attend the Irish Blog Awards where I debated with a blogger, whose name I cannot remember, whether the crostini crisps had a raisin reduction dressing or a balsamic dressing for a while. After eating about 30, I still hadn’t figured it out and gave up the quest.

I have also joined the legion of fans obsessed with the now cult cookery programme, Come Dine With Me, where 5 total strangers, (believe me ’strange’ is the word for most of them) get together for a week and each night host a dinner party in their homes. It’s cringey, it’s riveting, it’s car crash TV at its finest. It’s also fantastic to see that some people still worship the humble, 70s classic Shrimp Cocktail and other people think that grilled cheese with lettuce (was actually halloumi) is a suitable starter.

A new discovery that is getting a lot of press in the London food scene is the very cool Underground Restaurant movement, where foodies host a weekly dinner party and throw their homes open to more total strangers. It really is a fantastic idea, and unlike Come Dine With Me, you can poke around their homes and don’t have to reciprocate with your own. MsMarmitelover is one such blogger who is documenting her weekly living room restaurant on her blog The English Can Cook. I really hope to book a visit there soon, as it’s not only the food which sounds great but the fun company of the host and her family of helpers. Definitely beats snooty restaurant waiters any day!

I am always looking for new ways to experience food and dragging the brave and willing boyfriend along. My favourite, so far, was a visit to a raw food dinner hosted on Valentine’s Day in a warehouse by the Wicklow based, Alive – Irish Living Foods Association, who also happen to be robe wearing monk types. Good times! Who would have thought that uncooked food could be so appealing? Though we were a bit worried that they would try to convert us to their religion or at the end announce that actually, the whole thing was a covert Murder-Suicide Pact… eeps paranoia much?!

We are heading off snowboarding to St Anton am Arlberg this weekend, where I am hoping to try all the local, authentic foods that just aren’t the same here. For example, I made Spatzle (noodle dish) at the weekend and it so did not live up the memories of my German host family cooking it years before. Food memories for me are strangely strong and evocative, is it like rose coloured glasses for my stomach? Anyone else suffer from this food nostalgia?