Food in Vorarlberg
The most westerly province of Austria, just like neighbouring Switzerland, bears the unmistakable imprint of its Alemannic past. Switzerland is famous for its cheese, so it is no wonder that this product plays a prominent role in Vorarlberg as well.
On the dairy farm high up on the mountainside, while the dairyman’s wife bustles about her tasks in the farmhouse or on the nearby Alpine pasture, yodelling, the dairy farmer - or "Schweizer", to give him his title as a qualified dairyman - is busy on the Vorarlberg alp (as the grassy mountain pastures are called here) producing the huge wheels of cheese. These are so heavy that hired male help is a necessity on an Alpine farm.
The first cheese of the day is eaten, with bread, for the mid-morning snack - "z’Nüni". The afternoon snack, "Marend" (from the Romansch word "marenda") consists of the same again. The main meal of the day might be cheese soup, cheese dumplings or Käsespätzle (very small dropped dumplings with grated cheese), otherwise known as Käseknöpfle (little cheese buttons).
Käsespätzle or Käseknöpfle: A Spätzle dough is made with 200 g flour and an egg mixed together with water. The dough is pressed through the holes of a strainer or colander straight into the boiling salted water, when the water comes to the boil again the Spätzle are drained. Before serving they are plunged again into boiling water to reheat them. The bottom of the serving dish is covered with a layer of drained Spätzle and alpine cheese grated over the top (about 200 g of cheese are needed altogether). This process is repeated, ending with a layer of cheese. Sautéed onions or breadcrumbs are scattered over the top and hot melted butter poured over the entire surface. Käsespätzle are served with green salad.
Normal weekly Cheese consumption in rural regions lies somewhere between one and a half and two kilograms per member of the household.
People used to catch fish in Lake Constance even in prehistoric times. The whitefish or "Brotfisch" ("breadfish"), as it is known locally, was - and still is - what the Lake Constance fisherman depends on most of all for his livelihood. Second to whitefish come perch, and eels, nowadays, are also a useful source of income. In the times when fast days were strictly observed, fishing villages along the shores of Lake Constance used to supply about twenty monasteries in Swabia and Switzerland with the fish they needed. Two river fish worth singling out for special mention are trout and salmon trout. A speciality of the Lake Constance region is stuffed trout or whitefish.
Crullers and doughnuts, deep-fried in hot melted lard, are typical Austrian pastries for festive occasions. A Vorarlberg speciality made to celebrate the first Sunday in Lent - "Funkensonntag" (or Invocavit, after the initial word of the Sunday church service) are the Funkenküechle (crullers); hence another popular name for this day is "Küechlesonntag". On that day a huge wooden pyre ("Funken"), with the effigy of a witch filled with gunpowder ("Funkahex") enthroned on top, is burned down. When the flames reach the top the "Funkahex" explodes in a shower of sparks.
