The “Ämmitaler Ruschtig” label

Once you get to know the Emmental’s soft rolling hills, sleepy valleys and romantic farmhouses you’ll understand why the original Emmentaler cheese tastes best. The label “Ämmitaler Ruschtig” (Emmentaler Rustic) stands for top quality, natural foods that have been traditionally prepared by small producers and includes a variety of cheeses, “Hamme” (farmhouse ham), sausages, berry wines, and liqueurs.

Bern’s peaks of pleasure

Chocolate, onions, bears, and beer are the specialities of Switzerland’s capital city, Bern. Among them are world-famous products as well as lesser-known treats awaiting the intrepid gourmet. Chocolate lovers have been enjoying Toblerone and Ovomaltine, genuine products from the Bern region, for 100 years. And if you’re not an onion lover, you’ll become one when you visit Bern’s celebrated “Zibelemärit” (onion market). It is well worth getting up early to see the stands of local producers sell artfully braided bunches of onions, to soak up the infectious and exuberant early morning market atmosphere, and of course to taste a warm slice of Zibelechueche (onion tart). The bear, meanwhile, which appears on the city’s coat of arms, is a popular motif for all kinds of local specialities: try the delicious almond bears baked by Glatz, for example, or the local Gurten beer.

Flavours of the region

Order a regional speciality at a Schweizer Mittelland restaurant, and you are sure to be served something wholesome. Meat lovers should try the “Berner Platte”: all kinds of meats and sausages served with sauerkraut, green beans and boiled potatoes. Also very popular is the crispy Berner Rösti, a version of homefried potatoes. Favourite desserts, meanwhile, include the “Seeländer Nidlechueche” – a rich cream-topped tart – and “Emmentaler Meringues”. Wherever you eat in the Schweizer Mittelland – with or without GaultMillau points – you are sure to make all manner of happy gastronomic discoveries – your taste buds are in for a treat.