Switzerland

Fondue

Melted Gruyère and Vacherin with white wine and kirsch, shared from one pot.

Raclette

Half a wheel melted at the fire and scraped over potatoes, gherkins and onions.

Rösti

Grated potato pressed into a pan and fried into a golden cake, once a farmer's breakfast.

Zürcher Geschnetzeltes

Sliced veal and kidney in a white wine and cream sauce, served with rösti.

Älplermagronen

Macaroni, potato, cream and cheese baked together, with apple sauce on the side.

Papet vaudois

Leeks and potato stewed under a cabbage sausage, from the shores of Lake Geneva.

Bündnerfleisch

Air-dried beef from Graubünden, pressed square and shaved translucent.

Cervelat

The national sausage, split at both ends and grilled over a campfire.

Gruyère

Hard cow's cheese aged in cellars, nutty young and crystalline at eighteen months.

Emmentaler

The cheese with the holes, mild and elastic, made in wheels of a hundred kilos.

Malakoff

Deep-fried cheese fritters from Vaud, said to be brought back by mercenaries.

Basler Läckerli

Hard honey and spice biscuits with candied peel, glazed and cut into rectangles.

Zopf

Braided butter bread baked for Sunday breakfast across the German-speaking cantons.

Birchermüesli

Oats soaked in milk with apple and nuts, invented by a doctor for his patients.

Schokolade

Milk chocolate conched smooth, an invention that took the product worldwide.

Meringue double crème

Crisp meringues buried in the thick cream of Gruyère's double cream.

Tarte aux pruneaux

Damson tart on a thin base, baked when the late-summer plums come in.

Rivella

Soft drink made from milk whey, unaccountably refreshing and sold nowhere else.

Absinthe

Wormwood spirit from the Val-de-Travers, where it was invented and long banned.

Fendant

Dry Valais white from chasselas, poured with fondue and drunk young.