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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Bern
Grated potato patty fried in butter until a golden crust forms on both sides. It was the breakfast of peasants in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, including the canton of Bern, and became a symbol of German-speaking Switzerland, even lending its name to the Röstigraben.
Traditional dish from Bern
Also known as: Röschti, Berner Rösti
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Rösti — Bern, Switzerland
Rösti is made from grated potatoes fried in a pan in fat until they form a patty with a golden crust outside and a soft interior. For a long time it was the breakfast of peasants in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, especially in the canton of Bern, served with café au lait before fieldwork. Later it moved to lunch and dinner, as a main course or a side dish.
The canton of Bern is one of the regions traditionally associated with rösti. Some sources attribute the origin to Zurich, where potatoes are often put raw into the pan; the disagreement shows how the dish spread early across the German-speaking part of the country.
In the canton of Bern, the traditional rösti is made with potatoes boiled the day before, peeled and coarsely grated. The Berner Rösti also includes bacon and onion, and at the end of cooking a little milk is added, which helps form the crust. Other versions use raw potato, cheese, ham, or a fried egg on top. To flip the patty, the pan is covered with a plate and inverted.
Rösti is so associated with German-speaking Switzerland that the cultural and linguistic border with French-speaking Switzerland earned the nickname Röstigraben, the rösti ditch. Even so, the dish is eaten on both sides of that line and is regarded by many as a national symbol.
Rösti accompanies sausages, eggs, fish and Zürcher Geschnetzeltes, but it can also be the entire meal.
Bern
Traditional dish of the canton of Bern and a symbol of German-speaking Switzerland; editorial association approved without claiming exclusive origin.
Potatoes (boiled the day before or raw), butter or other fat, and salt; in Berner Rösti, also bacon, onion and a little milk. Variations include cheese, ham or egg.
In a patty, sliced, as a main course or as an accompaniment to sausages, sauced meats, fish or fried eggs.
Year-round, at lunch and dinner; traditionally, for breakfast in the countryside.
Your questions
It’s the playful name given to the line that separates the German-speaking and French-speaking regions of the country, inspired by rösti, a typical dish from the German side.
Both forms exist. In the canton of Bern, tradition uses potatoes boiled the day before; in Zurich, it is common to use raw potato.
Sausages, fried eggs, fish or sauced meats, such as Zürcher Geschnetzeltes. It can also be the main dish.
Flavors of Switzerland
The solid chocolate bar that made Switzerland a world reference from the 19th century onward, with mechanized production by Cailler, Daniel Peter’s milk chocolate in Vevey, and Rodolphe Lindt’s conching in Bern.
Melted cheese with white wine in a caquelon, kept warm over a burner, into which each person dips bread cubes on a long fork. Promoted as a national dish from the 1930s onward, it is served across Switzerland in the cold months.
Hard honey biscuit with almonds, hazelnuts, candied orange and lemon peel and kirsch, covered by a thin layer of sugar. Mentioned in Basel at least since 1711, it is the city’s most closely associated sweet specialty.
Large platter with several cooked and smoked meats and sausages, served over sauerkraut and green beans, with potatoes. It is the festive dish of Bernese cuisine, traditionally linked to the victory at Neuenegg in 1798.
Dry, crunchy meringues served with Gruyère crème double, a thick cream with at least 45% fat. The quintessential dessert of the Bénichon feast, it is one of the symbols of the Gruyère region in the canton of Fribourg.
Chocolate cauldron bearing the coat of arms of Geneva, filled with marzipan vegetables and sweets, which is broken at the end of the Escalade celebration in December. It recalls the legend of Mère Royaume and the defense of the city on the night of December 11–12, 1602.
Shortcrust pastry tart, closed on top, filled with chopped walnuts coated in caramel and cream. It is the best-known sweet specialty of Graubünden, linked to pastry chefs who emigrated from the Engadine to work elsewhere in Europe.
Chard leaf rolls filled with spätzli-like dough and Bündnerfleisch (air-dried beef) or local salami, cooked in broth and milk and gratinated with cheese. Emblematic dish of Graubünden, originating in the Surselva, with as many recipes as there are families.
Puff-pastry dome filled with veal, meatballs, mushrooms and raisins in a creamy sauce. It’s named for the city and canton of Lucerne and is also called Fritschipastete, after the local carnival figure.
Dense cake made from day-old bread soaked in milk, with cocoa, amaretti, raisins, pine nuts and often a splash of grappa. Born from a desire not to waste bread, it is considered the quintessential Ticino sweet and every family has its own recipe.
Half a wheel of cheese held close to the fire, with the melted part scraped onto the plate and served with boiled potatoes in their skins, pickled cornichons and pearl onions. It originated in Valais and was presented as a Valais national dish in 1909.
Distilled from wormwood, anise, and fennel, green or colorless, served diluted with cold water and turning cloudy when mixed. Production began in the Val-de-Travers, in the canton of Neuchâtel, at the end of the 18th century, and it was banned in Switzerland from 1910 to 2005.
Rustic purée of leek and potato cooked in water and white wine, served with saucisse aux choux, a smoked pork-and-cabbage sausage. It is the best-known culinary specialty of the canton of Vaud and is part of its intangible heritage.
Layered cake of almond meringue discs and a sponge soaked in kirsch syrup, with buttercream, covered with almonds and powdered sugar in a diamond pattern. Created in Zug by pastry chef Heinrich Höhn, who advertised it in 1915.
A mixture of soaked rolled oats, grated apple, walnuts or almonds, lemon and milk, created around 1900 by physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients at his clinic in Zurich. It gave rise to the muesli eaten worldwide.
Thin strips of veal sautéed and served in a cream, white wine and mushroom sauce. It’s the dish Zurich residents name first when talking about the city’s cuisine, almost always accompanied by rösti.
