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Mountain Bowl · Barley and Cheese Dumplings

Pizokel

Pizokel — street food from Graubünden, Switzerland
Photo: Andrew Nash / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

The dough traditionally leans on barley flour rather than the wheat used in Spätzle elsewhere — a nod to what actually grows at Graubünden's altitude.

A coarse dough, sometimes cut with barley or buckwheat flour, is scraped into knobs and boiled, then pan-fried with cheese and onion until crisp at the edges. Graubünden mountain-hut stands and market kitchens serve it in a bowl, often with a side of stewed apple.

Why it's made this way: Barley and buckwheat tolerate Graubünden's high-altitude growing conditions better than wheat, making them the practical base for this Alpine noodle dish.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.