Soups and Salads

Soups are enjoyed in Switzerland year-round, but they are especially present in the fall and winter. You’ll see them at autumn harvest festivals and frosty winter markets. There are carrot soups at Aargau’s carrot market, onion soups at Bern’s onion market, and chestnut soups from Ticino. Where I live, in the Emmental, we have a famous split pea soup for cold days that features cured pig’s trotters, snout and tail.

The grape-growing regions spike their soup with wine, the cider-makers add apple juice and there are countless milk and cheese soups from the dairy farmers. There are soups to feed the poor, celebrate weddings, or strengthen new mothers who’ve just given birth. There’s a soup for every occasion–and here you’ll find a small selection to warm your chilliest days.