Every August 1, Switzerland or the Swiss Confederation celebrates its National Day and Swiss citizens and friends of Switzerland all over the world, including Cebu, commemorate this event with traditional ringing of the bells, hanging strings of Swiss flags, bonfires, fireworks, yodeling and dining on Swiss cuisine.
Seventeen years ago, my encounter with Swiss culture was through my membership with La Chiane des Rotisseurs, where one of the officers was a Swiss national and Switzerland’s Honorary Consul in Cebu, Markus Stern, who used to manage Europa Delicatessen & Butcher Shop. I was yet an aspiring writer who was fascinated with all the European delicacies and wines in that establishment. I must had read nearly all the food labels and with a limited budget, bought and tasted bits of food and wine to be familiar with these goodies.
And finally last year, riding a Euro train between Paris and Florence, the train conductor announced that there will be a 10-minute stop and to my surprise, I was in Switzerland. I went down and saw the yellow international line and stepped across that line to be, excuse me, officially in Switzerland even if I was there for only a minute!
Back to the 2011 Swiss National Day, the event was held at the Marco Polo Cebu Plaza and guests were warmly welcomed by GM Hans Hauri and the Swiss Ambassador to the Philippines, H.E. Ivo Seiber, who acknowledged the friendship and partnership between Switzerland and the Philippines. In fact, it is a 100-year-old business relationship because “in 1911, The Nestlé and Anglo Swiss Condensed Milk Company was established in the country, with its first sales office in Calle Renta, Binondo.”
Then the President of the Swiss Confederation, H.E. Micheline Calmy-Rey offered her congratulations in a video telecast and we had a toast on the occasion of the 720th National Day. So small a country with a tiny population of less than 8 million but its citizens are fiercely proud of their neutrality (ready gyud the Réduit suisse) and with a stable economy, it has the “highest European rating in the Index of Economic Freedom 2010.”
And it was the 5th time for your favorite food columnist to be invited to taste all that delicious Swiss cuisine. When you have a country with five countries at its borders (Germany in the north, Italy (south), Austria and Liechtenstein (east) and France in the west), unique gyud Swiss cuisine since the locals have adopted, modified and refined the cuisine of its neighbors.
My dinner began with the Swiss fondue with melted cheese (Emmentaler and Gruyère) and some potatoes with Raclette melted with an Electric Table-Top Grill. Then I tried the Buendnerfleisch (Alpine style air-dried beef, the best since the last four food festivals) and some salad, the Wurst Salat with Kaese (Sausage Salad).
I decided that the soup and sausages would be too filling and went directly to sample the main dishes: Chicken in Mushroom Cream Sauce, Zurich-Style, Sauerkraut, Rippli (Loin Ribs/Smoked Pork Loin) and the Beef Tongue with Port Wine. The latter two dishes were the best dishes that night and I learned that it was Chef Jonathan Daligdig who prepared it under the supervision of Executive chef Luke Gagnon.
Perhaps one day in the future, I will stay in Switzerland a bit longer than one minute and I will accompany Atty. Joji Alonso, my younger sister, who is a movie producer to the Locarno International Film Festival.