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Cheese, bacon, and starch

I kept spotting this backpack in Les 3 Vallées and I thought it was awesome because, well, in the words of the late Anthony Bourdain, “you can never have too much cheese, bacon, or starch.” Tartiflette is a casserole dish that is local to the Haute-Savoie region in the French Alps. Its main ingredients are potatoes, bacon, and cheese (reblochon to be exact). And yes, it is as delicious and filling as it sounds.

I also liked that the slogan was specific to the region we were in, and so I went on a hunt to find this mysterious backpack. I must have gone into at least 8-10 stores looking for it. None of them had it. But eventually I learned that it was an online thing. It was for the “I like to ski and hang out in chat rooms” crowd, or at least that’s how one guy explained it to me. So I went online and ordered it back to Toronto.

It finally arrived today, and I’m looking forward to using it when I snowboard, cycle, and attempt to make tartiflette for the first time. Now I just need to locate some reblochon. (Note to US readers: My understanding is that this cheese is considered contraband in your country because it is unpasteurized and does not meet US import laws. So you may need to find some sort of clandestine cheese market if you want to make it.)

For those of you who also like to ski and hang out in chat rooms, you can find the bag and other merch, here. It’s all an extension of the Grenoble-based online magazine, skipass.com.

4 Comments

  1. AM

    This is one of my signature dish, but with a twist: I make mine with dough, so it’s more like a shepherd’s pie.

    Hit me up if interested (I know where to source Reblochon).

    Also, in the same vein as your backpack, a local ski shop in my hometown has this shirt. Je crois en Diots is a pun on “I believe in god” (dieu), where the diot is a sausage from Savoie.

    I had one years ago, but I wore it out because I wore it all the time.

    Liked by 1 person

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