Delectably Local: Chez Vrony

There’s much to be said for the Zermatt Summer: rolling green hills framed by permanently snowy peaks, being able to ski any day of the year, going to see the extremely rare Valais battle cows go head-to-head if watching (and/or rare animal sports) is more your thing, and of course world-famous outbreaks of wildflowers.

It’s enough to make you sigh and start counting out the weeks until the next spring thaw on your iCal, that is, until you start thinking about what Winter in Zermatt has to offer: snow-covered hills framed and topped by the magnificent Matterhorn, being able to ski any day of the year (still), and sitting in cozy farm houses dining on produce, milk and meat products raised from the now-snow-covered pastures that surround you. It doesn’t get more local than that.

For the ultimate in local fare that’s “still” organic — as in “it was never anything but” — Chez Vrony serves up time-honoured recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation, like the restaurant itself. While certain touches add a welcome contemporariness to perhaps the world’s most casual Michelin-starred restaurant, Chez Vrony‘s most traditional aspects demand a repeat visit.

Here a nearly forgotten circle-of-life type approach brings these traditions to the forefront and directly to your plate for a particularly satisfying meal and a unique pleasure that comes from participating in this generations-old way of eating. Chez Vrony keeps a few dairy cows nearby. Those cows produce the milk for the cheese the restaurant serves, and when they become older, those same cows are served as homemade sausages and dried meats cured in a hut just below the restaurant.

Chez Vrony is a must-stop-and-eat for anyone who feels disconnected by the modern food machine and finds themselves a bit peckish while skiing halfway down blue run number 6 from the top of the Sunnega Express. Consider the view of the Matterhorn from the decks, the confectioners' sugar-dusted icing on your apple-tart cake.