The Cuisine of the Aosta Valley

People from the Aosta Valley enjoy a robust cuisine based on cheese, meat, rye bread, potatoes, polenta, gnocchi, risotto and soups. Cows grazing on the lofty Alpine meadows provide fine butter and many excellent cheeses, such as Toma, Robiola and, above all, fontina, which features in many a local recipe. Perhaps the classic cheese dish from this region is fondua, which is similar to Piedmont’s fonduta or a Swiss fondue, made with milk, egg yolks and fontina cheese. Another local cheese is Fromadzo, a firm cow’s milk cheese (sometimes with the addition of ewe’s milk) that has been made in the valley since the 15th century. Cheese is also added to polenta, risotto and thick soups, whose ingredients range beyond the usual vegetables, meat, rice and potatoes to include mushrooms, chestnuts and almonds.