SOMETHING’S COOKING IN THE VALLEYS

Savvy ski companies in France’s Three Valleys are attracting food lovers with ski holidays that focus as much on the food as the snow. Food editor Rebecca Woollard, who first cooked professionally as a ski-chalet girl, sloped off for a taste of the high life

COLD COMFORTS, CLOCKWISE FROM THIS PICTURE Working up an appetite on the slopes; Alpine Escape’s Dulcis Casu; La Bouitte’s posh nosh; looking sheepish at La Trantsa; Portetta Hotel snacks; Fire and Ice bar

My cooking career started out in a ski chalet in Courchevel, so I have many memories of the French Alps. However, since most of them feature hangovers, kitchen disasters, crying into undercooked turkey crowns and downing far too many toffee vodkas, it’s understandable that I’d never considered the famed Three Valleys ski area a foodie haven. If you have the money, you can dine well (the resort is famously the haunt of Russian oligarchs and their lady friends), but what if you want to go for a holiday that won’t cost you an arm and a Moncler-clad leg?

That distinctly British concept, the catered chalet holiday, held no appeal for me after I’d hung up my chalet-girl apron. I’d loudly affirm to anyone who’d listen that I preferred the freedom to choose my own meals (and mealtimes). I didn’t want a hungover youth hanging around with some droopy canapés; I knew what went on behind the scenes and I had no desire to pay good money for it.

But I’ll tell you a secret: on my last visit I discovered that there are travel companies in the region who are doing the chalet holiday extremely well – no cheap pâté, no boxed wine and, as far as I could tell, very few hangovers (for the chalet staff at least). On top of that, it seems that if you know where to look, the Three Valleys really is something of a foodie paradise, whatever your budget.