The Swiss cuisine can generally be separated into several parts, as is Switzerland itself. The cuisine is influenced by the different cultural regions of Switzerland as dominated by the languages spoken: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Local specialities can be found everywhere in Switzerland. The so called “Roestigraben” (Roesti Trench) separates West Switzerland, the French speaking part from the eastern, German dominated part. Initially only east of this border was the Swiss favourite dish served; the Roesti. Roesti are made of potatoes, cut into little pieces, added together with some eggs, salt and pepper to a dough, before gently roasted in a pan. You can have it as a main course or a side dish to your main course.

The Swiss Cuisine is dominated by products Switzerland is famous for producing itself: milk products like cheese and cream, meat and potatoes and noodles, in different variation. Switzerland is home to about 450 varieties of cheese where cows milk is used for about 99 percent of the cheeses produced. Every region, sometimes every valley of a region produces its own cheese specialities. Names like Gruyère and Emmental are extremely well known, but there are lots of others like Sbrinz, claimed to be the oldest European cheese. There are famous dishes where cheese is the main ingredient: Cheese fondue and Raclette. Raclette is both a type of cheese and a dish featuring the cheese. The Raclette cheese is melted within its skin and the running cheese than eaten together with potatoes. Cheese fondue was invented out of necessity. In the remote and isolated mountain villages in the Swiss Alps people had to rely upon locally made food. During winter, fresh food became scarce. The Swiss found that melting stale cheese made it edible. Local wines and seasoning's were added and even dry and hard bread tasted delicious after it was swirled in the creamy melted cheese.

From the southern and Italian influenced parts you get the dry-cured beef from the Grisons called Bündnerfleisch. After a special treatment this meat is dried for several months. Within this time it is pressed several times to remove the remaining fluid. This is the reason for the typical rectangular shape of this speciality. Traditionally Bündnerfleisch is cut across the fibre in as thin slices as possible and arranged on plates or platters. Nothing more is needed than a pepper mill. Ideal companions to Bündnerfleisch are fresh, crusty bread and a glass of dry red wine.

Maybe the most famous meal is the Zuercher Geschnetzeltes – deemed to be the national Swiss dish – which is a ragout from veal in a spicy taste of cream sauce. Best served with noodles or Roesti and a fruity white wine- all Swissmade, of course!

Don’t forget to taste the sweet treasures of Switzerland: Chocolate. This is not only an issue for a last minute purchase at the airport. You should take your time during your visit and look around for the high quality and unbelievable tasty product offered in the chocolate heaven Switzerland.

The Basel Region

We cannot describe the hundreds of other specialities because Switzerland is so worthwhile to visit. Unfortunately we have to leave you with this small overview. Maybe you will be encouraged to go there and discover the Swiss Cuisine on your own now.

In Basel some of the specialties you can find are closely related to the Carnival. When the people get up early in the morning to celebrate the carnival one of the first they do is to go to the local pub and have a Mehlsuppe (Powder soup). This traditional soup is consisting substantially of white powder, roasted slightly brown, milk, spices, onion and cheese. All cooked together for 1-2 hours. During the whole carnival you get the Fasnachtkiechle (Carnival Pastry) everywhere. This sweet oil baked pastry is made out of dough containing eggs, powder and cream. After baked in the oil they are iced with sugar.

A sweet you can get throughout the year is the Basler Leckerli. This gingerbread-like pastry is real traditional specialty, and is produced by Basler bakers since mid of the 15th century. It contains powder, nuts, candied orange and citron peel and honey. The rectangle pieces are 1 cm thick and are topped with a white sugar icing. Delicious!

Switzerland is renowned for beautiful scenery, lakes, mountains, cheese, chocolate, clocks and punctual trains - but who knows about the Swiss wines?

Very little wine is made in the entire country. Furthermore, the Swiss know a good thing, and with such diversity, almost all Swiss wine is consumed at home, with extremely little – maybe 1% - being exported. As such, it is a real scarcity abroad, and when found, quite a novelty. Switzerland is a fascinating wine making country indeed, with a wide repertoire of grape multifariousness and wine making styles, and many truly world-class wines. With such variation and excellence, Swiss wines are a treasure trove just waiting to be discovered by UK wine-lovers. Go for Merlot del Ticino (can be as fine as good a red Bordeaux) or a Blanc de Noire from Waadtland, you will not be disappointed!

The Basel region provides a small range of wines, growing on approximately 110 ha. Most of the grapes are Pinot Noir, followed by Riesling and Sylvaner. Growing of wine in this region is only possible due to good soils (rich in chalks like the nearby Jura) and a special warm and dry microclimate, allowing the winemakers to grow such sensitve grapes.