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A Few Typical Swiss Dishes

I've been on the road for several months now and have met lots of interesting people from different cultures and backgrounds. I've learned polite phrases in different languages, seen different landscapes and eaten the local specialities.

The Typical Swiss Meal

There is one question that my new friends ask me that keeps popping up:"What's a typical Swiss meal?" I usually answer something like "anything with cheese and potatoes" but then that really doesn't give them the right impression. I mean the Canadian Poutine also has cheese and potatoes but it's very far from being a Swiss dish (thank god!).

Popular Swiss Dishes

So I started to think which dishes that I used to prepare and eat in Switzerland or that my mom ir grandma made for me growing up could be considered typically Swiss. It's not so easy as food in Switzerland has become very international due to the immigration history.

Fondue and Raclette are the most famous Swiss dishes but are there more? This is what I came up with so far:

- Gschwellti: boiled potatoes eaten with a selection of cheese
- Röschti: potato pancakes eaten as breakfast or as a side dish
- Zopf: a bread eaten for Sunday breakfasts
- Birchermüesli: a mix of cereal, yogurt and fruit usually with a bit of cream on top
- Capuns: traditional dish of the Grisons region

Obviously there are lots of regional specialties as well but those are very diverse and I honestly know very little about them (except maybe for Züri Gschnetzlets.)

Röschti - w.r.wagner  / pixelio.de 




© 2014 IRENE WYRSCH "A HUMOROUS GUIDE TO SWITZERLAND" ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 22, 2014 at 8:53 PM

    I have been told by my Swiss teacher that Swiss people usually don't have supper or they just take some bread and butter or muesli for dinner. This is maybe why they are so fit!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Irene WyrschJune 23, 2014 at 8:34 PM

      Yes, that is true. Dinner is usually an uncooked meal in Switzerland... fruit, bread, muesli... something like that!

      Delete

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