Cook the Mountain

Cook the Mountain

The “Cook the Mountain” project launched by two-Michelin-starred chef Norbert Niederkofler from South Tyrol brings together colleagues from all over the world in celebration of the produce of mountain areas on their menus. 
 

He learned his craft with Jörg Müller, Eckart Witzigmann and Nadia Santini, travelled all over the world and ultimately returned to his roots in South Tyrol. The St. Hubertus restaurant in the Rosa Alpina Hotel & Spa in San Cassiano, where Norbert Niederkofler has been executive chef since 1996, has two Michelin stars. The 53-year-old chef himself has four Gault Millau toques. As he explains, his vision is to create delicate, incomparable dishes from the rich natural produce of South Tyrol and to add a hint of elegance to nature’s bounty, for example in his veal carpaccio, root vegetables and birch fondue with herbs.

“I’m an individual. And so are you. I have my strengths and weaknesses, as we all do. I don’t always manage to be genuine. How about you? But when I succeed in sharing the familiar scents and tastes of my home with other people, it makes me happy.” (Norbert Niederkofler)

 “Cook the Mountain” is the name of his new project. This network brings together chefs, farmers, livestock breeders, mountaineers, naturalists, sociologists and entrepreneurs from mountain regions all over the world. It aims to introduce the cuisine and culture of the mountains to a wider audience by means of a series of events. Niederkofler is convinced that mountain culture needs to be preserved and passed down to the next generation. If the mountains are not protected, a unique legacy of traditions, products and recipes will be lost.

“We organise meetings between chefs from different mountain regions across the world. This gives them the opportunity to share their experiences of using natural produce that comes from what are sometimes dizzying heights above sea level. They work together to preserve our natural habitats, which are often under threat from mass tourism and the extraction of mineral resources,” says Niederkofler.

EXPO 2015
Norbert Niederkofler will be presenting his “Cook the Mountain” project to a broader public for the first time at EXPO 2015, which takes place from 1 May to 31 October in Milan. As he explains, “People like me who come from mountain regions are all the same. We’re also different from other people. We feel both restricted and protected by the mountains and this makes us very similar, because we have learned to handle extreme conditions.”

For more information, visit www.n-n.it/cook-the-mountains.htm and www.expo2015.org.

Text: Rainer Meier