Gourmet SkiSafari: A Delectable Culinary Adventure on the Slopes of Alta Badia

Andrea Thompson

ByAndrea Thompson

November 7, 2024

Five chefs, five mountain huts, five gourmet dishes, five South Tyrolean wines and 130 km of perfectly groomed slopes.

These are the ingredients of the perfect recipe for spending a day on skis in Alta Badia under the banner of good food. The eleventh edition of the Gourmet Skisafari is scheduled for Saturday, 14 December, while in Alta Badia the lifts will have already been open since Thursday, 5 December.

An itinerant journey in which skiers will ski from one hut to another, where they will have the opportunity to taste the gourmet creations of five gourmet chefs: Massimiliano Alajmo, Simone Cantafio, Giancarlo Morelli, Peppe Guida and Cristian Fagone. These will bring starred cuisine to 2000m in the heart of the South Tyrolean Dolomites and will delight skiers at several mountain huts, presenting their dishes, which, thanks to the products used, praise local gastronomic excellence. For the realisation of their dishes, the chefs are in fact inspired by the best products of the area, based on their own philosophy in the kitchen, adapted, for the occasion, to a mountain environment. Real works of art will be presented, not only for the palate, but also for the eye.

There will, of course, also be the opportunity to meet the chefs in person and to be told the story of their dish. All this for a first ski trip of the season in the name of taste… and vitality, the theme that characterises this edition of A taste for skiing.

The chefs and their dishes:

Massimiliano Alajmo, Restaurant Le Calandre, Rubano in the province of Padova (3 Michelin stars): Pasta, smoked butter. The creation of the chef, who in 2002, at only 28 years of age, became the youngest chef in the world to be awarded three Michelin stars, can be tasted at the Ütia Bioch hut. 

Simone Cantafio, Restaurant La Stüa de Michil, Corvara (1 Michelin star): Tortellini, filled with mountain potatoes, Graukäse and wild herbs, broth of roasted onions, bacon and yuzukosho. The chef, who offers tradition and innovation in his cuisine, with the aim of introducing Italian products to the world, will delight guests at the Ütia I Tablá mountain hut.

Peppe Guida, Restaurant L’Antica Osteria di Nonna Rosa, Vico Equense (1 Michelin star): Pasta and mountain potatoes with strawberry tree sauce, black truffle, porcini powder and pine moss. Chef Peppe Guida, starring in one of the episodes of the new season of Netflix’s Chef’s Table entirely dedicated to the preparation of Noodles around the world, will present his A taste for skiing dish at the Club Moritzino hut.

Cristian Fagone, Restaurant Impronte, Bergamo (1 Michelin star): Lamb skewer, celeriac and salmoriglio. The chef, who through his cooking explores his deepest self and defines who he is, will be present at the Ütia Pralongiá mountain hut.

Giancarlo Morelli, Restaurant Pomiroeu, Monza: Pork belly, granny smith apple, graukäse polenta Chef Morelli, a long-standing lover of snow and Alta Badia, will cook at the Piz Boé Alpine Lounge.  

There are two types of ticket to participate: the ticket that allows the tasting of three dishes with wine pairing for €60, and the ticket for €90 that includes the tasting of all five dishes with the paired wines. These can be purchased online at www.altabadia.org  at the information offices, or on the day of the event, directly at the participating mountain huts.

 These and four other gourmet dishes can be tasted at the eight huts participating in A taste for skiing, throughout the winter season. This winter’s edition of the initiative is being held under the motto of vitality, which has to do with a motion of creative energy, which can be contagious in a positive sense. It will therefore be vitality that will inspire the nine chefs who will give life to the fifteenth edition of A taste for skiing, the gastronomic event that year after year makes Alta Badia’s winter season gourmet. 

The aim of A taste for skiing 2024-25 is once again to give a strong and concrete signal of solidarity, in support of less fortunate children suffering from incurable  illnesses. Therefore, for the whole of the coming winter season, for every ‘A taste for skiing’ dish served in the huts participating in the initiative, € 3.00 will be donated to charity to the ‘La miglior vita possibile’ association.

Those who order the A taste for skiing dish in the participating huts will be given a box of chocolate candies, generously made by Crispo together with chefs and pastry chefs Massimiliano Alajmo, Corrado Assenza, Luigi Biasetto, Luca Cantarin, Leonardo Di Carlo, Ezio Marinato and Luca Rasi. Also this year, the preparation of the box will be entrusted to young people with autism spectrum disorders belonging to the Habile cooperative.