Swiss cuisine is terrible – according to online reviews
Are we a culinary developing country, as the travel and gourmet portal Taste Atlas claims? We ask two experts.
Fondue at the Fribourger Fonduestübli in Zurich – this is not enough to get a place in the top hundred.
Photo: Tamedia
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica celebrates in a long article Global ranking of the hundred best culinary cities and its local or regional specialties. First place: Florence. Second place: Rome. Then there is the Peruvian capital Lima and in fourth place again an Italian city, which is Naples.
No wonder, because the Italian public is so pleased with the ratings that recently Italians had to admit with pain and patriotic protest that Claimed by local nutritionist Alberto GrandiMany classic Italian dishes (pizza, spaghetti carbonara, parmesan, panettone) were invented elsewhere.
Where do you find the local specialties in Switzerland among the best in the world? Nowhere.
Moving down the city rankings to No. 100 (Mexican Merida), the view slips past such names as Prague (17th), Sarajevo (61st), Indianapolis (62nd), Recife (67th), Bogota (84th), Warsaw (92nd), Ankara (98). And when one asks oneself with increasing anxiety, will a Swiss city finally come to fruition? Where in Switzerland are local specialties among the top 100 in the world? Answer: nowhere.
The rating was created by the gastronomy and travel organization Taste Atlas, and its ratings are frequently quoted in international media, and not just by Republica. According to Taste Atlas, its ranking was not based on gourmet judgment, but on Google ratings. Taste Atlas also ranked second, They are the ones that talk about the best national cuisine, This is nothing but flattering for Switzerland: it ranks 87th out of 100, just ahead of Scotland but behind countries like New Zealand, Cuba and Albania.
Do we have a problem?
Do we have an international culinary image problem? The question is addressed to two experts, Paul Imhoff, pastry critic and author of the five-volume Culinary Heritage of Switzerland series. There is hardly anyone in this country who is more familiar with the local specialties. And to Daniel Boniger, longtime gastronomic critic at Tamedia and deputy editor-in-chief of TODAY The online portal of «Gault Millau».
“Such classifications are complete nonsense.”
Paul Imhoff considers the group’s culinary ratings to be “utter rubbish”. Local specialties depend on the climate, soil, traditions, cooking, and cultural identity of an entire region—”a ranking based on Google rankings will never do justice to this complexity,” Imhoff says.
A great connoisseur of local cuisine: critic and writer Paul Imhoff.
Photo: P.D
And the fact that you get better company canteen food in Swiss gastronomy is really ridiculous. As a counterargument, Imhoff cites the high density of star-studded Swiss restaurants, which are unique in the world. The global reputation of the Hotel Management School in Lausanne. And the fact that in one of his books the Spanish crime writer and great gourmet Manuel Vasquez Montalbán – the creator of Private Detective Pepe Carvalho – praises the Swiss chef Freddy Girardet as the most meticulous and inventive in the world.
“Many of the guests from the USA are ‘greedy’ in the way we eat fondue.”
However, according to Daniel Bonegger, there are actually only two local Swiss dishes with international appeal, raclette and fondue. “Cheese dishes are not really gourmet food, and some of the wide foreign audience also have problems with them – for example, many Asian tourists. Or guests from the United States, who quickly find it unhealthy when you stir the cheese bowl together while eating.” .
Additionally, adds Imhoff, the two Swiss national dishes are somewhat uncannily lacking.
Cantonese culinary spirit
And why shouldn’t Zürcher Geschnetzeltes, Salm à la Baloise, Berner Platter or other typical Swiss local dishes be among the world’s 100 best restaurants? Aside from the fact that it’s a matter of taste, Bonegger names other possible reasons: “Switzerland is fragmented, which is why the cantonal culinary spirit is here,” he says. Local dishes receive little international attention, especially since the international cuisine in Zurich and Geneva is very diverse and of a high standard. To realize local specialties at all, you need to look for them specifically.
We miss him: Our infectious former critic Daniel Bonegger, better known as “Bonnie.” Here he eats schnitzel with french fries at the Bahnhof Wiedikon.
Photo: Urs Jaudas
And in a survey based on the assessment of the general public, gastronomy in Swiss cities would have a major drawback: “It’s very expensive for foreign guests,” Bonegger says.
So we allow the Italians to be happy with their well-deserved excellent performance. We console ourselves with the fact that Germany, ten times the largest, is represented by only one city (Munich, 75th place). And look forward to a hot dog at Vorderen Sternen in Zurich.
Found an error?Report now.
“Typical entrepreneur. Lifelong beer expert. Hipster-friendly internet buff. Analyst. Social media enthusiast.”