What to eat Geneva? culinary specialties and gastronomy

In addition to its regional specialties, Geneva offers many recipes from all over the country in the city's restaurants. Of course, the great classics of Swiss gastronomy can be found, starting with the unavoidable cheese-based specialties such as fondue. Originally from the Gruyère region, it is available in several recipes. The "moitié-moitié" is made of a mixture of vacherin and gruyère, unless you prefer the "pure vacherin" made of the cheese of the same name produced in the canton of Fribourg. Not to be confused with the Vacherin Mont-d'Or produced in France and in the Swiss Jura. A soft cheese with a creamy consistency, it is contained in a spruce strap and is eaten with a hot spoon. Of course, fondue is so common in the country that many restaurants offer more modern versions flavored with tomato, mushrooms or olives. Raclette is also a Swiss specialty from the canton of Valais. As its name suggests, it is traditionally enjoyed by scraping cheese from cow's milk. The cheese called raclette, in the masculine form, has had a PDO in Switzerland since 2003, but is legally produced in France and other European countries, which is why it is so common here too. The cheese crust consists of a thick slice of toasted bread, soaked in white wine and covered with cheese. It can be served with an egg or a slice of ham on top. Finally, the malakoff is a delicious cheese and egg doughnut.

Switzerland is known for the quality of its sausage production. We can mention the cervelas, the dried meat from Grisons, the sausage from Vaud without forgetting the gendarmes or landjäger, with a spicy taste coming from caraway seeds. There are also cooked or smoked sausages such as the Ajoie sausage or the schübling from St. Gallen. And let's not forget hams such as Valais cured ham (IGP), bacon(bauernspeck) or head cheese(schwartenmagen). Some of these meats are accompanied by röstis - a speciality also known in France - in the form of a potato pancake with grated onions that is pan-fried. Switzerland also produces a wide variety of breads, with a predilection for brown breads, which contain flour - wheat or other cereals - that is lightly sifted and therefore rich in bran. Basel bread, Bernese bread, Fribourg bread or Valais rye bread PDO, there is something for everyone. Generally round, some are baguette-shaped. These breads go very well with a smoked sausage and a little mustard - from Bénichon - very sweet and flavored with star anise, cinnamon and cloves.

Beyond the classics of Swiss cuisine, Geneva has a local cuisine that is surprisingly rich for this small canton, which although it is mainly centered around its capital, also has important agricultural areas. The thorny cardoon of the Plainpalais plain is the only vegetable of the region to benefit from an AOC. It was introduced to Geneva by market gardeners from the south of France following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The cardoon is a vegetable that the Romans already appreciated for its taste close to the artichoke. It is most often prepared as a gratin. The rissole pear is an old variety, fallen into oblivion, which is mainly used to make compotes and pies.

The longeole is one of the culinary pride of the canton, produced especially in winter. This pork sausage, which has a PGI label, is recognizable by its distinct taste due to the fennel seeds. The oldest recipe dates back to the end of the ^19th century. It is sometimes cooked with white wine and most often accompanied by potatoes. In Lake Geneva, the féra is fished and eaten whole, filleted, smoked, in the form of mousse or terrine. On the menu of restaurants it is not rare to find perch. This small fish is a real treat and is accompanied by a sauce meunière. The fish is floured and then cooked in hazelnut butter with lemon juice and chopped parsley. Be careful, the perch must be barely covered with a thin layer of flour, if the fish is breaded with breadcrumbs there is a strong chance that it is a frozen imported product. We also find trout, pike and more rarely Arctic char and crayfish. Arctic char à la Genevoise is cooked with a creamy white wine sauce, small vegetables and tarragon.

Other Geneva dishes include stuffed artichokes, cardoons with marrow or the gratinée des Vieux Cabinotiers, a kind of onion soup with bread croutons au gratin with Gruyère cheese. Not forgetting the fricassee of pork à la Genevoise, a stew of pork and bacon, garnished with vegetables, whose sauce is thickened with the blood of the animal. This tasty recipe is very old, just like the black pudding, also made with blood, which is served with diced caramelized apples. The term fricandeau refers to what is known in France as paupiette, i.e. thin cutlets - often of veal - stuffed with sausage meat and tied in the shape of a ballottine.

Among the most common desserts is the prune pie, which is traditionally eaten during the Geneva fast, which takes place on the Thursday following the first Sunday in September. This celebration has its origin in a show of support after the massacre of Protestants during the St. Bartholomew's Day in 1572. The Protestants of Geneva would have instituted the fast in commemoration. At the time of the Reformation, it was customary to celebrate fasting during dramatic events. The aim was to give way to prayer and humility through abstinence. The Geneva fast was re-established alongside the federal fast in the ^19th century. In autumn, prunes are the fruit of choice. It was customary to prepare the pie the day before, to fast during the day, and to all gather around a prune pie as the only authorized evening meal.

But of course one can also enjoy bricelets, a kind of thin and crispy waffle, figasses, small cakes with various fruits prepared in the Geneva countryside on the occasion of local festivals, or even the Geneva-style pear pie, which is garnished with raisins and orange peel, among other things. The merveilles are the equivalent of our bugnes lyonnaises - these crunchy doughnuts with orange blossom - and the rissoles genevoises, turnovers with pear. The vermicelli with chestnut is similar to our Mont Blanc. It is eaten in small tarts with a base of meringues and shortbread, or simply on ice cream as a topping. The healthier Bircher Müesli is a Swiss recipe created at the beginning of the ^20th century. It is a natural product with a high content of wheat germ, cereals and fruit flakes. To be enjoyed with milk, yogurt and fresh fruit.

But Geneva and Switzerland more widely is known for the quality of its chocolate. Great names in chocolate have found their place in Geneva, such as Martel since 1818, Favarger since 1826, Philippe Pascoët and his ganaches. Chocolate can be enjoyed in candies, bars, fondue, spreads and even in chocolate fondue pots, in which small vegetables made of marzipan (marzipan) are dipped during the Escalade festival. Finally, the pavés are small cubes of soft chocolate coated with a thin layer of cocoa. They were invented in the 1930s by Geneva chocolate makers.

When it comes to hot beverages, the Swiss are the seventh largest coffee consumers in the world with almost 8 kg per year per capita. Let's not forget that the famous Nespresso brand is Swiss after all. At the crossroads of Germanic, French and Italian influences, we find different types of coffee: espresso, cream, cappuccino or simply black coffee. You can also enjoy excellent hot chocolates and various types of tea.

Note that the tap water in Geneva is of excellent quality. You can of course buy bottled sparkling or still mineral water like Henniez or Valser, but the public water, coming from Lake Geneva, is one of the best in Europe. The Eau de Genève smartphone application allows you to locate the nearest public fountain to quench your thirst. Otherwise, Rivella is a kind of lemonade made from whey and available in different colors: red, blue (without sugar) and green (with green tea extracts). Many orchards in the Geneva countryside offer an artisanal apple juice made from several varieties of fruit for tasting. It is even possible to buy it from a vending machine like in Plan-les-Ouates. If you order an apple juice in a bar or café in Geneva, don't be surprised, it may be fizzy! Often, you will be served apple juice from the Swiss brand Ramseier, finely sparkling with the appearance of non-alcoholic cider.

With its 1,400 hectares of vineyards, the canton of Geneva produces excellent wines. The best known grape varieties are undoubtedly chasselas, chardonnay, aligoté, gamay, pinot noir, gamaret, garanoir and merlot. Already in Roman times, vines were grown in this region. Geneva is now the third largest wine-producing canton in Switzerland with 13 million liters per year. A sandy or clay soil and a mild climate are all assets for this two thousand year old viticulture area. After a peak in the ^18th century and a very difficult period in the ^19th century (with stiff competition from French wines and the phylloxera disease), the Geneva vineyard recovered and developed wines of high quality. Since 1988, an appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) has recognized the fruit of this labor. Traditionally white wines from the Chasselas grape variety and red wines from the Gamay grape variety, Geneva's wines are also trying to be avant-garde with the introduction of new grape varieties: white Chardonnay, white and grey Pinot, Viognier, Gewurztraminer, among others, for white wines, and black Pinot, Gamaret or Garanoir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc for the red wines The famous gamaret or garanoir black grape variety was obtained from a cross between gamay and reichensteiner in the 1970s, in Pully (canton of Vaud), and its production is confidential, since it is limited to the vineyards located around Lake Geneva. A varied production with 46% of red wines and 54% of white wines.