Producing Swiss Emmental cheese (image, Swiss Cheese Marketing)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss are the world leaders in eating cheese and for 2009 the country set a new record for per person consumption, 21.4 kg. New 2009 figures from the Swissmilk show that in economically tight times the Swiss ate more, not less cheese, with consumption rising by 240g per person. The preference is for fresh, medium-hard cheeses.
Swiss cheese consumption 2009 (table, Swissmilk - click on image to view larger)
Those numbers are not as reassuring as the Swissmilk, the national milk farmers’ federation would like because foreign cheeses accounted for the increase, with Switzerland consuming 310g more of imported cheese, per person, and 70g less of Swiss cheese.
Appenzeller was the big loser, with consumption falling 10.5 percent, and Emmental was the big winner, up 7.5 percent. Switzerland Cheese Marketing will lead a country-wide publicity campaign to push the quality of Swiss cheese to consumers, starting in May 2010.
Swiss food and drink cost you a little more in September 2009.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s inflation rate fell slightly in September, down 0.9 percent, to an annual rate of 2.9 percent. The Consumer Price Index remained stable but the overall CPI is the result of a balance between imports,which have gone down in price and Swiss-made goods and services, which have risen slightly. It also hides differences that include falling prices for housing, energy and transport but rising prices for teaching, communications, food and drink, healthcare.
A new report indicates that several agricultural technologies which have been used successfully in China’s rural areas are appropriate for Africa and could be used to help the continent better feed its population. The report is to be published in full in August by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation but one section, written by a group from Stellenbosch University in South Africa says, reports SciDevNet, that “the Chinese government’s investment in rural economies is now paying huge dividends. The country can feed its 1.3 billion people despite only nine percent of its land being arable, and it provides food security for 20 percent of the world’s population.“ A key difference between China and Africa, the report notes, is that the former has shared finances between rural and urban areas, while in Africa most government money goes to urban areas.
Fêtes de Genève, fun on the ground and in the sky
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva and Switzerland’s biggest outdoor party kicks off tomorrow, 30 July, as the Fêtes de Genève get underway, after a two-week warmup called the pre-Fêtes. Music, art and food stalls in the streets, lakeside fair rides, a slow-up Sunday 2 August, spectacular fireworks Saturday 8 August: they’re all part of the fun.
And to put you in the mood the city is calling on amateur photographers to get out their cameras and start shooting their entries for the four seasons of Geneva photography contest, with tempting prizes.
Check it out on the GenevaLunch events page. Here’s where it is happening:
Paleo crowd, 2009
What it is: The largest outdoor music festival in Switzerland, started in 1976, with over 4.3 million concert-goers since then. In 2008, the audience was 227,000 strong, and there were 146 performances on six stages.
Volunteers, all 4,062 of them, helped to make the experience a great one for all. According to a survey in 2008, 59 percent of concert-goers came from the Lake Geneva region.
Title: Wine and chocolate: a family affair
Location: Romainmôtier, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: A group of nine Côtes-de-l’Orbes wine producers are presenting their wines at the Caveau de Romainmôtier, along with chocolates from Pascale Philippe’s chocolate shop Passionnément Chocolat in Yverdon-les-Bains.
What’s really special about this is that you can bring the whole family. This wine tasting doesn’t have to be an all-adult affair. The Formule jeune lets under-18ers taste four different chocolates and two different artisanal juices from the region for CHF6.
Start Date: 18 Jul 2009
End Date: 30 Sep 2009
Shadu, age 3, has lost his mother, DR Congo (image: ICRC June 2009, P Yazdi)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – More than half of the civilians directly touched by the world’s eight major conflicts have been displaced, and half say they have lost contact with a family member. One in five have lost their livelihood.
These are some of the findings of a statistical and interview set of surveys ordered by the International Red Cross (ICRC), based in Geneva, to ascertain the extent to which civilians today are affected by major conflicts.
The greatest fears mentioned by people surveyed:
By Jared Bloch
Writer/Director Peter Kerekes
What happens to the war effort when the Army chef spoils the food? As one character in Peter Kerekes “Cooking History” proclaims, “there is no war without food.” And maybe no successful war campaign without good food.
The premise for this alternately wry and sobering movie evolved out of a conversation between Kerekes and his father. “The idea was to collect stories from ordinary people, and to show how they can, and have changed history,” Kerekes told Geneva Lunch during a conversation on the final day of the 2009 Visions du Réel Film Festivalin Nyon.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Migros is adding, in coming weeks, a new product line that features high quality at a low cost, called M-Classic, says the company. The new lineup, with some 600 new products by the end of the year, will be easily identifiable by its packaging.
Title: Geneve-Saveurs gastronomy workshops
Location: Geneva, route de Lausanne
Link out: Click here
Description: Workshops and tasting sessions: oils, wine, chocolate and more with some of Switzerland’s top experts
Start Date: 28 Feb 2009
Start Time: 10:00
End Date: 01 Mar 2009
Nestle profits up
Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Nestlé has announced net profits of CHF18 billion, a 69.4% increase over 2007. Consoliated sales for the year were CHF 110b, of which CHF102b were in the food and beverage arm of the business. The company says its very strong growth has allowed it to continue its three-year CHF25 billion share buyback programme.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A battle has been brewing among supermarket chains, with lower prices the most obvious benefit to consumers. Migros Tuesday morning announced that it will lower the prices of 150 items in order to ensure its prices remain lower than those of its competitors.
Title: Bizarre food workshop
Location: Morges, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: A food workshop aimed to awaken your taste buds.
Start Date: 20 Nov 2008
End Date: 22 Nov 2008
A chef in West Yorkshire, age 33, died, possibly from a heart attack, after eating a super-hot chilli sauce. He had challenged his girlfriend’s brother to a contest to see who could eat the hottest sauce. The young man had just passed a medical fitness test for work. Sydney Morning Herald. In a separate story, in May 2008 Science Daily reported that researchers at Oxford University have developed a carbon nanotechnology that makes it possible to measure the heat in chilli peppers.
Bern, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – The Swiss have been increasing their consumption of fresh vegetables and in 2007 they ate a record 75 kg per person, with carrots (8.94 kg per person) heading the list, followed by tomatoes, with 8.48 kg. Lightweight iceberg lettuce comes in third, with a mere 3.93kg per person. Source: Swiss truck gardening centre.
