Food in Switzerland

Food, ingredients and the way to prepare it varies greatly all over the country. Generally speaking, basic food items include a huge selection of bread (white, whole wheat etc.), dairy products such as milk, yogurt, butter and - of course - a great variety of the world famous Swiss cheese. Also important are vegetables including beans, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes, spinach etc. Sausages and meat - mainly veal, beef, pork, chicken or turkey - are served in many different ways: grilled, cooked, sliced or cut. Side dishes include French fries, rice, potatoes and different types of pasta. Fruits are available from all over the world, locally grown fruits include apples, pears, grapes and different types of berries, such as black berries, blueberries, raspberries, red currants and strawberries. Finally, there are a lot of sweets, including the second type of food that Switzerland is world famous for: Swiss chocolate.

In Switzerland, breakfast typically includes bread, butter or margarine, marmalade or honey, maybe some cheese or cereals, plus milk, cold or hot chocolate, tea or coffee.
Lunch may be as simple as a sandwich or a birchermüesli or it could be a complete meal.
Depending on what people had for lunch, dinner can be a full main course or just some bread, cheese, maybe some dried meat or any other light meal.
Drinks range from plain water, over different types of soft drinks including most internationally well known brands plus some local products, to a great variety of beers and wines. Hot drinks include many different flavors of tea and coffee.

There are many different places to go out to eat in Switzerland. It starts with fast food, such as burger, fish and chips etc., continues with self service restaurants and what people in the U.S. use to call a family restaurant where you get all the regular menus and ends with spectacular (and very expensive) restaurants, where to eat is supposed to be an "experience".

Food is quite expensive in Switzerland, at least compared to most European countries and especially compared to the U.S. If you go to a fast food place, you may easily spend up to CHF 10 for a burger, a soft drink and a coffee. In a family restaurant, a menu will cost somewhere between CHF 15 and 50, self service restaurants are somewhat less expensive. At a more fancy restaurant, one can spend as much as CHF 1000 just for a bottle of wine ...

Common menus include a great variety of pasta, potatoes prepared in many different ways, vegetables, meat (veal, beef, pork, chicken and even horse), fish (mainly fresh water fish), but also sea food. Vegetarian menus have become more popular during the last few years, most restaurants provide at least one vegetarian menu as a main course. In addition, salad is very popular as well. The most important part of course is desert. This includes cheese, but even more important any flavor of cakes or cookies.

As mentioned above, menus vary from canton to canton. Below is a small selection of some menus that are typical for some regions of Switzerland. Click on the image or the word recipe for a large picture and the recipe.

The recipes are based on ingredients available in Switzerland. Some of them may not be available in your country or differ in their properties. Use your intuition when you need a substitute.

The amount of the ingredients are specified in metric and U.S units. However, if you are not familiar with our metric unit system, you may be interested in the explanations about metric versus U.S. unit system.

Please remember, even these pages were written by a computer engineer. If some incorrect terms were used or if you have comments or suggestions how to improve these pages, please feel free to use our contact form.

Note: All recipes and pictures by Betty-Bossi, used with permission.

Swiss people do not only love good food, they also appreciate a beautiful decorated table, like the table shown on the left, decorated for a Christmas dinner.

Bürli are small breads served for breakfast or at BBQ parties. Recipe

Dreikönigskuchen (Epiphanies cake) is a special cake served on January 6 ("Dreikönigstag", Epiphanies day) Recipe

There are dozens of types of bread in Switzerland. However "Zopf" is a very special bread, typically served on Sunday for breakfast. Recipe

"Birchermüesli" was invented around 1900 by Dr. Bircher, a pioneer of the biological health medicine and an early promoter of unprocessed food that retains its full nutritional value ("Vollwertkost" meaning "whole foods diet"). Recipe and history

This is probably the most famous swiss menu. Fondue is made out of molten cheese. We eat it by dipping small pieces of bread in the molten cheese. The secret lies in the right mixture of different flavors of cheese. Typically, fondue is served on cold winter days, but many restaurants serve it all your round. Recipe

"Pastetli" usually come in a round shape. The picture on the left shows a very special shape, perfectly suited for a romantic dinner for two. There are different styles of fillings, it may include mushrooms and meat on a creamy sauce. They are usually served with rice and peas. Recipe (with mushrooms)

"Rippli" means, ribs taken from pork. In the region of Bern, it is served with bacon, beans and potatoes. Recipe

"Sauerkraut" is a very traditional menu. There are dozens of different recipes for Sauerkraut, some include potatoes or meat. Recipe

"Pasta tri colori" (three colors) in the colors of the italian flag red, white and green with vegetables. Recipe

Salads have a long tradition in Switzerland and are served in many different flavors, either as a side order or as a full meal. Recipe for three different dressings

This is a perfect meal on a hot summer day. Often, it is served with bread and ice tea or beer. Recipe

Meat and vegetables are all served in the same pot. Recipe

While it is possible to use any type of meat to prepare this menu, the real "Zürcher Geschnetzeltes" is made with cut veal. Traditionally, it comes with hashed potatoes, but it could also be served with rice, pasta or mashed potatoes. Recipe

"Apfelküchlein" (deep fried apple cookie) taste great either warm or cold, with or without vanilla sauce. Recipe

These are very special cookies made with lots of honey - very sweet, they taste just wonderful ... Recipe

"Brunsli" (Swiss brownies) also a traditional Swiss Christmas treat. Recipe

"Chräbeli" (Anise cookies) also a traditional Swiss Christmas treat. Recipe

"Fasnachtsküchlein" (Carnival cookies) - also known as "Chnüblätz" ("knee cookies") - are traditional cookies served during carnival season. Carnival festivities usually take place in February throughout Switzerland. Some towns are very famous for their carnival parades, the most famous takes place in Basel city. Carnival in Switzerland is similar to Mardi Gras in the USA. Recipe

There are many different Christmas treats in Switzerland, "Mailänderli" (Milano cookies) are amongst the most famous. Recipe

There are different recipes for "Nusstorte" (nut cake), the most famous is probably the one from the Engadina (a well known valley in the canton Graubünden). Recipe

In the opinion of our kids, this is the best way to serve carrots. It could be made as a cake - as shown here - or even more often as a pie. Often, it is decorated with little carrots made out of marzipan. Recipe

This is my personal favorite - a real dream come true when prepared by my wife. We call it "spider web pie" ... Recipe

"Schwabenbrötli" (Swabia cookies) are another traditional Christmas treat. Recipe

"Zimtsterne" (Cinnamon cookies) are another traditional, very delicious Christmas treat. Recipe

"Magenbrot" sweet pieces of bread, often sold at street faires ("Chilbi") etc. Recipe