Heusuppe is an unusual, authentic Swiss soup originating from the Alpine huts. Literally translated as hay soup, the dish is made with mountain flowers and herbs which are steeped in bouillon with the addition of hay that is removed from the broth before serving.
Typically, it takes about 2 kilos of hay to make just 1 liter of hay soup, and it is often prepared with additional ingredients such as cream and butter. Many people claim that the soup is an acquired taste – you are first hit with a slight sweetness, then creaminess, and finally, a slightly sour flavor in the mouth.
Tirggel are traditional Swiss Christmas cookies made with flour, honey, and sugar. They are thin and very hard, characterized by images on the top which are usually associated with the Zürich Canton, romance, and Biblical stories. It is believed that the name tirggel is derived from the word torggeln, which refers to stirring a thick dough.
The first written mention of tirggel can be found in 1461 witch trial court documents. The cookies were a luxury item in the 15th and 16th centuries, and before 1840, only city bakers had the rights to bake them. After 1840, all bakers could bake them, and they gained popularity over the years, so nowadays everyone can enjoy these crunchy festive treats.
Longeole is a sausage originating from Geneva. It contains ground pork, ground pork rinds, and fennel seeds. The pork rinds keep the sausage from drying out and give it a fuller flavor, while the addition of fennel seeds is believed to be a Savoyard influence.
Due to the addition of pork rinds, longeole takes longer to cook than other sausages. This sausage is especially popular during the colder months, and it is traditionally served with potatoes cooked in white wine for Christmas.
Basel's signature dish is a hearty, flavorful soup made with browned flour, beef stock, onions, and sometimes red wine. Basler mehlsuppe is usually seasoned with peppercorns, cloves, nutmeg or allspice, and served topped with a generous grating of Swiss cheese such as Sbrinz or Gruyère.
Traditionally, the soup is a must-have at Basel Carnival, which is officially launched with a serving of it at precisely 4:00 AM on the first Monday after Ash Wednesday. Being a national favorite, mehlsuppe is also widely available throughout the year, not just in Basel, but across Switzerland.
Although it is filled with exotic ingredients, riz Casimir is an authentic Swiss dish dating back to 1952, when the owner of Mövenpick restaurant, Ueli Prager, first put it on the menu. The dish is made with chicken, cream, coconut milk, rice, toasted almonds, pears, pineapples, peaches, and a variety of flavorings such as curry powder, chili, cinnamon, cloves, garam masala, and bay leaves.
Although riz Casimir was at the peak of its popularity in the 1950s, nowadays it is often mentioned as a favorite dish among people of all ages in the country.
Fastenwähe is a type of small Swiss bread, carnival treat, and snack originating from Basel. The dough is usually made with a combination of flour, yeast, salt, sugar, milk, eggs, caraway seeds, and butter. Once the dough has rested and doubled in size, it's divided and shaped into ovals.
A knife is used to cut four slits into each piece of dough, which is then carefully stretched in order to create a shape that's similar to a cross in the middle of the dough. The dough is brushed with beaten egg yolks, sprinkled with caraway seeds, and baked until golden.
Wurstsalat is a traditional salad from Germany (especially southern parts), Switzerland, Austria, and Alsace in France made with strips of sausage. It's a popular dish often consumed as a light meal in beer gardens or traditional inns, especially during the warm summer months.
The main ingredient in wurstsalat is thinly sliced sausage. The most commonly used type is Lyoner, fleischwurst, or stadtwurst, although the Swiss variant often uses cervelat. These are all types of cooked sausage that are similar to bologna or frankfurter.
VARIATIONS OF Schweizer wurstsalat
Meitschibei are finger-thick, horseshoe-shaped Bernese pastries filled with sweetened hazelnuts. Their name directly translates to girl’s legs and it comes from their characteristic shape. The dough is made with white flour, butter, milk, yeast, malt, sugar, salt, and eggs, while the filling is made with ground hazelnuts, orange peel, lemon zest, cinnamon, sugar, and a little water.
Meitschibei can be easily found in bakeries throughout the German-speaking part of Switzerland. In the French-speaking parts of the country, the product is known as croissant viennois – Viennese croissant. The origins of meitschibei are lost to time, but they most likely originated in Bern at the beginning of the 20th century.
Kalberwurst is a fresh Swiss sausage made with a combination of veal, ground crackers, and milk, although pork is sometimes also added to the combination. Its flavor is often described as mild and creamy. The sausage is typically cooked alongside onions and gravy, but it can also be grilled.
The delectable Swiss treat known as birnbrot is a pastry filled with dried pears as the key ingredient. Other ingredients might include walnuts, raisins, dried figs, some kind of alcohol (usually brandy) and spices such as cinnamon, cloves, coriander, and anise.
Another name for this pastry is birnweggen, but the two are different because birnweggen is typically prepared by spreading the filling on the dough, then rolling the whole thing like a roulade, while birnbrot’s filling is fully encased within the dough.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “34 Worst Rated Swiss Foods” list until March 27, 2025, 3,024 ratings were recorded, of which 2,604 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.