Nom Nom Nom

I promised I'd write again about the food, so there we go!

I love Swiss food.  My figure hates Swiss food.  I went thinking I might shed a few pounds as I knew there would be copious amounts of walking (which there was).  I was mistaken.  I failed to factor in the cuisine that I would be enjoying while visiting the Land of Chocolate and Cheese and managed to come home with a "Swiss inch" added to my waistline.  It's all good ... I'm on it, but oh MAN ... the food is KILLA!

My first food experience in Switzerland involved regular groceries, so let's start there.  Naturally, the prices were higher than I'm used to, but I expected as much.  The grocery stores there are pretty similar to ours here, except for a few things:

Eggs - They're on the shelf!  They don't store their eggs in cold storage there.  And they come in packages of 10, not by the dozen like ours.

Milk - Ok ... wt..?!  There was some milk in cold storage, but it seemed that the standard was the milk stored on the SHELF.  On the shelf?!  It just doesn't seem right.  I'm a serious dairy lover, so for me, that was mildly traumatizing.

Pancake Mix - This can be tricky to find.

Oraginc = "Bio" ... if you want the 'good stuff', look for "bio" on the label and be prepared for about the same rate of inflation on the price, if not more.

Water - Beware the carbonated water!  The packaging looks like everything else and it's in greater abundance, it seems, than the regular water.  I discovered the prevalence of "gasse" in the "wasser" the hard way.  I bought a 6-pack of what I assumed was harmless, bottled water as I know and love it.  My heart dropped, however, when I cracked it open and heard the spritz escape.  My face contorted when I took that first ice cold gulp (which I had been anticipating before; dreading at this point) and BAM!  Sharp, spikey little fizz bubbles stabbing into the soft, thirsty flesh in the back of my throat leaving a HORRIBLE off-kilter taste that left me feeling very disappointed.  Be sure to look for/order water with "no gas".

Bacon = Good luck with that.  It's not the same as it is here.  It's just not.

Mayonnaise & Ketchup = Came in a tube.  I swear it looked like space food.  The packaging is actually a great idea because it's much easier to get it all out, but as an American with no experience outside my own country, where mayo comes in upside-down bottles.  Which now that I think about it, is much stranger than tubes.

So the grocery stores were pretty interesting.  There are two big ones there - Migros and CoOp.  It's like comparing Kroger to HEB, I guess.  Except that I never found the "crunchy section".  They don't really have those there.

In Zurich, we ate at a couple of different places.  I discovered quickly that my favorite Swiss dish is something called "rosti".  It's basically a big salad plate sized hash brown covered in perfectly melty cheeses and various other toppings.  I had it twice.  Once was what seemed like a handmade hash brown covered in bacon and cheese.  The second one was at a smaller cafe-type place and the hash brown seemed pre-made (possibly frozen at one point) but also had delicious cheeses melted on it over fat slices of tomato.  They were both delicious - but I preferred the hand-made one.

One day we went to Lucerne and happened upon a WONDERFUL little kiosk (Dock 14) where they had a local beer, Eichof, that was DELISH!  They were the most reasonably priced foods I'd come across since visiting Switzerland, so I was excited to see what they had to offer.  And they came through!  Hot dogs for the girls and a tasty little Greek salad for me.  They also had a yummy fruit soda for the girls and of course, I enjoyed that Swiss craft beer.

You can't go to Switzerland without having fondue!  My ex and his wife took us all to dinner one evening at a fondue restaurant in Zurich and it was quite an experience.  I love fondue, but I have to say - it's important to eat lots of produce either before or after that meal as it has a way of really slowing down certain processes.  That shizz is HEAVY in the guts!  I totally plan on eating that again some day though ... fo' sho'.

Beverages were interesting.  Apple soda seems to be a "thing" there - perhaps somewhat like what apple ales are here, but alcohol free.  Nothing is served with ice unless you ask for it.  Water is not complimentary.  You have to pay for water and in restaurants, it was typically served chilled in a glass bottle ... "mineral water".  That was crazy!  You couldn't just get a glass of ice water from the "tap".  I saw breath-taking spring waterfalls pouring forth from the mountains and I'm looking at them thinking, "can't y'all just tap that stuff right there and BAGOOSH ... free water?!"

Vending machines were also a trip.  They were at all the train stations and most of them were all the same.  The first or second day I was there, I noticed one drink that was in an orange container and stuck out from all the others - but more so for the big, green pot leaf on it than for the obnoxious color.  I was like, "no way"!  Cannibis tea.  No shizzle.  I had to buy it.  I put my 2.5CHF in the machine and voila!  It even had a label I could read!  Who knew?!  Black tea, lemon flavoring and hemp flavoring.  Of course.  It tasted like Lipton with Lemon and didn't mellow me out at all.  What a let down.  :(  However, it was still entertaining to see the birth control test on the shelf above the tea, flanked by a pack of cheap cigarettes and some jerky treats referred to simply as "Party Sticks".  You can find all kinds of crazy things in a Swiss vending machine!

And of course, last but not least, was the CHOCOLATE!  Ermagerd the chocolate.  We found the Sprungli shop down in the Zurich train station tunnels that was like stepping into Wonka's pretty little gift shop.  They have these French macarons, Luxemburgerli, that we just couldn't get enough of.  I had them three times during my visit, but the most eaten in a sitting was like 5 or 6 of these things one night when we had my middle daughter's going home dinner.  It was the night before we left and my ex brought home a huge box full of them that we passed around and around the table, each time each person taking just one out.  He got a little bit of everything ... and they were ALL divine!  My oldest is working to perfect making these (which is REALLY HARD)  and I can't wait for her to figure it out because they're EXPENSIVE to buy!  But so worth every single rappen.

So that's my food experience in a nutshell, so to speak.  I am a huge fan of Swiss food and loved the challenge of figuring out/discovering the grocery stores.  I'm a bit of a grocery store geek and I guess I've been a mom for so long, there's something about the prospect of exploring a new grocery store that is incredibly entertaining for me.  I don't know ... call me crazy.  Everyone else does.