Creative Bales: Alta Badia's dumplings are a real treat. “Nos dales bales” is a culinary tasting event, dedicated to South Tyrol’s most famous dish: the dumpling. Sweet or savoury, traditional or innovative. The dumpling can be enjoyed in so many tasteful variations. And so it comes that, in order to understand and appreciate the dumpling in its very best version, various hotels, restaurants and pastry shops in in San Leonardo in Badia unleash their creativity and join forces to suggest a vibrant selection of the best-known and most typical dish in the Dolomites. Taste it to believe it.
What is the origin of dumplings?
Talking about the South Tyrolean cuisine, the first evidence of enjoyment of the dumplings can be seen in a beautiful series of frescoes, dating back to 1180, in the Hocheppan Castle in the locality of Eppan - Appiano near Bolzano.
Does the dumpling count as part of the great culinary tradition of a poor, rural cuisine? (
Yes. It’s part of a humble and timeless cuisine, based on essential, genuine and easy-to-find ingredients. That is to say: nothing is thrown away, zero waste, lots of taste.
Which are the main ingredients?
Dumplings have a peasant origin and were created from a mixture of old bread with milk, eggs, flour, bacon, cheese and herbs. Today, they are a signature dish of the Ladin and South Tyrolean cuisine.
How do you eat them, with fork and knife?
Never use a knife, there is only a fork on a worthy Ladin table. The dumplings are then served with cabbage in winter, salad in summer and always with a glass of the South Tyrolean wine called Schiava.
Its proverbial deliciousness aside, what does the dumpling stand for nowadays?
Whether it is with cheese, bacon, white bread, wholemeal bread, spinach or beetroot: the dumpling in all its versatility embodies the value of a creative, waste-free and therefore sustainable cuisine, today more than ever before.
Nature, culture, gastronomy and togetherness
Events in Alta Badia are all about hospitality.
