The Coolest Cuisine of 2025? It’s Straight from the Alps 🏔

Culinary Ascent: The new wave of restaurants reviving Alpine cuisine and reimagining tradition—and a look at some of the trending dishes taking hold.

We all want to be a little cooler. And no, this isn’t just another retro-revival (though we won’t deny there’s some nostalgia at play).

2024 was the hottest year on record. Before that? 2023 held the title—by a lot. (Thank you, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for the grim update.) People around the world are feeling the heat—literally—and looking for ways to escape it. With traditional vacation hotspots becoming unbearably warm and overcrowded, travelers are shifting gears and heading to cooler destinations instead. Enter: the rise of “coldcations” and “coolcations.”

If the existence of the term alone isn’t enough to prove the point, Google Trends data showed a 300% spike in searches for “cooler holidays” in 2024. Even Pinterest called it, predicting more mountain travel in their Top Pinterest Trends for 2025. Searches for the Dolomites—a breathtaking Alpine region in Northern Italy—jumped 45%, and The New York Times put the Dolomites at #15 on their list of “52 Places to Go in 2025.”

But what does all of this have to do with food? Travel and food trends often fuel each other. The same way coastal vacations put oysters and crudo in the spotlight, the more people dream about glacier-blue lakes, craggy peaks, and cozy après-ski vibes, the more they crave the flavors that come with them. Ever heard of canederli? It’s a simple bread dumpling in broth. Maybe not your first pick off a menu right now, but once you've sat in a cozy hut after a crisp mountain hike, and enjoyed a bowl in front of a roaring fire? Game changer.

Who’d have thought that a style of cuisine—the hearty, cheese-laden fare once confined to kitschy ski chalets and 1970s fondue nights—would feel of-the-moment in 2025?

Suddenly, Alpine foods are appearing in places you’d never expect—from fine dining restaurants, to global chains—proving that the cuisine is much more than touristy ski lodge fare or a rustic relic of Old Europe; it's a current trend to watch. Let’s hit the trail…

From Kitsch to Cool

Once relegated to themed restaurants and ski resorts or mountain towns, a new wave of chef-driven restaurants celebrating Alpine cuisine is beginning to emerge. Covering a huge swath of land from Southeast France across Switzerland, Southern Germany, Northern Italy, Austria, and Slovenia, Alpine cuisine is often distinct from that of any one country as a whole. It is shaped by ingredients that can withstand cold winter climates, and hearty foods to sustain those living there. Despite the relative obscurity of the cuisine, some of these new restaurants are achieving acclaim.