I’m spending the month of August on the Seiser Alm in the Dolomites region of Italy. It’s a lovely place and extremely kid friendly, so definitely worth a trip if you like the mountains and enjoy hiking. It’s full of little restaurant huts scattered throughout the valleys, where you can try many local delicacies… but there is one delicacy in particular that is truly unique.
At Gostner Schwaige, chef Franz Mulser does something very few people do: he cooks with flowers. Many flowers are in fact edible, and each of them has a particular flavour so they can be used in cooking – a bit like “regular” herbs. Franz has studied for sometime and has now developed a full menu where flowers play a decisive role. He picks what he finds locally and grows everything else he needs. All his dishes are extremely well balanced – a modern take on traditional recipes and local ingredients, and all of them involve the use of flowers.

Eating is such a discovery and everything is beautiful to look at. I guess it also helps that in his former life Mr. Mulser was a painter! I have been there a few times each summer for the past three years and I’m always ready to go back. Last Easter I tried one of their winter specialties: hey soup. I know it sounds weird, and I was skeptical at first, but it was such an experience. It did taste like hey, but in a delicate and very warming way; it had flowers and it was served in a bowl made out of bread. Delicious!

-Michela