The Culinary Heritage of Switzerland (german: Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz, french: Patrimoine culinaire suisse, it, Patrimonio culinario svizzero, rm, Patrimoni culinar svizzer) is a multilingual online
encyclopedia
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
of traditional
Swiss cuisine
Swiss cuisine is influenced by Austrian, French, German and Northern Italian cuisine, as well as by the history of Switzerland as a primarily agricultural country. As a result, many traditional Swiss dishes tend to be relatively plain and are mad ...
and
produce
Produce is a generalized term for many farm-produced crops, including fruits and vegetables ( grains, oats, etc. are also sometimes considered ''produce''). More specifically, the term ''produce'' often implies that the products are fres ...
.
History
The project was initiated after Swiss MP
Josef Zisyadis's parliamentary motion in 2000.
After obtaining
CHF 2 million of funding by the Swiss federal government, the
Swiss cantons
The 26 cantons of Switzerland (german: Kanton; french: canton ; it, cantone; Sursilvan and Surmiran: ; Vallader and Puter: ; Sutsilvan: ; Rumantsch Grischun: ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss C ...
and private sponsors,
the private association "Culinary Heritage of Switzerland" was founded in 2003.
The association hired a team of researchers, including ethnologists and historians, to write the articles and carry out field research by interviewing Swiss bakers, butchers, cultural historians, archivists and farmer's wives.
It made the encyclopedia, with an initial scope of some 400 articles, available to the public on 9 December 2008 at no charge.
Scope
To be included in the association's database, a food must be recognised as traditionally Swiss, have been produced for at least 40 years and remain in production.
The project's scope is limited to processed foodstuffs, such as cheeses or meat products. It does not include unprocessed food (with a few exceptions), wines, recipes or dishes.
See also
*
''Appellation d'origine protégée'' (Switzerland)
Notes and references
External links
*
{{Subject bar, Food, Switzerland, auto=1
Swiss cuisine
Swiss online encyclopedias