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| A typical example of a Self Service Cheese "shop" |
It’s no secret that Switzerland, among
other things, is famous for cheese. What is a secret though, is the variety of
cheeses that there are. Usually when you
think “Swiss Cheese” you think the kind with the holes in it. That would more likely be considered
Emmenthaler cheese. In fact,
Switzerland has about 450 different varieties of cheese.
To say there is cheese everywhere is also
not an understatement. Once you leave
the city, you practically run into cheese places. Switzerland very much embraces the whole “eat
local” movement, though here it’s not so much a movement but rather something
they’ve always done.
Though I’m sure there are a few large scale
cheese operations, the majority of cheese seems to be made by small independent
farmers. The cheese that I most often
run into (quite literally) is alp cheese.
Alp cheese is a loose term to define a cheese that comes from the
mountain. In order for it to be called
alp cheese, the milk has to come from cows grazing in the mountains and the
cheese itself has to be made in the mountain.
As a result, the only “wildlife” you spot hiking is generally cows (or
goats)
Of the cheese places I’ve run into, they
also generally have a point of sale on the spot. It’s usually a friendly sign on the side of the
road and a fridge or cooler with the offerings.
Oh, and it’s unmanned. I’ve
mentioned before how trusting Switzerland is, but it’s still amazing to me,
that in the year 2013, there are still people trusting enough to leave a box of
cash along with the cheese. Of the times
I’ve bought cheese at the “self service” cheese shops (for lack of a better
name) it’s not uncommon for there to be close to 100CHF in the cash box. The
concept is simple: buy your cheese, pay for your cheese, make your own
change. So simple and trusting, yet it
just wouldn’t fly in about 90% of the countries in this world!
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| The very trusting system of paying for your cheese |
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| Happy cows grazing in the mountains make for delicious cheese |
