Page 60 - Bulletin, Vol.82 No.3, October 2023

bread and milk, but it is likely the soup was well-seasoned with cheese, which would
mean that this earliest form of fondue helped prevent a battle.

According to historians from the Abbey, the fields nearby are witness to some of the
most important moments in Swiss history. Susanne Wey-Korthals, an Abbey historian,
says, “Switzerland found a way to compromise here, to concentrate on what we had in
common rather than focus on our differences. It sounds remarkable, but we did it over a
bowl of soup.” There is a stone-cast memorial marking the site, reading Koppel
Milchsuppen on the front of the memorial, and marking the year 1529 on its side.

This story can be a successful example of food diplomacy, worth thinking about and
worth remembering. When the agreement is difficult to achieve, maybe this is what is
needed to bring to the negotiation table today as well? Perhaps, after reading this story
(which is a real historical fact), it is worth to take it into account as the successful
strategy in Switzerland, especially that the cheese (fondue) is one of the national food in
the host country and will be at no surprise to introduce this as a successful peace-
broker. One thing is clear: fondue possess a special force that no other meal can do: it
gathers people together around a fondue pot for a long time. And the above legend –
that is the real story and a historical fact – helped wartime enemies find peace together,
at least for the length of a meal! It can be, of course, any other food – national,
traditional, or international – as long as it can bring together the negotiating sides and
facilitate the dispute settlement and maybe even to broker peace, it will be clearly a
successful peace-maker!

Where and how to find this monument – we promised to tell you how we hiked there. If
you are interested to see this monument, it can be easily accessed by hiking from the
town of Baar that is not far from the city of Zoug, the capital of the Canton of Zoug, (it is
even marked as “hiking for seniors”, and hiking time from Baar 1h30, however, please
note that you need to take your map not to miss it). We can propose you even better
solution and this is what we did: you can visit this monument by passing through the
Kappel Abbey (which is in the Canton of Zürich). You can reach the Kappel Abbey by
15 min bus ride from Baar, stop at the Abbey, you may even take a meal in the Abbey
and discuss there or ask about the monument. It is well known and you will be
explained how to reach it and it will be a
truly historic hike from the Abbey to the
monument (the hike from the Abbey will
take 25 minutes, by the main road). In about
25 m of walking watch your right side, and
you will see a small forest in the field. Turn
to this forest and while approaching it you
will see the sign “Milchsuppestein”. When
you reach this small forest, you will see
stairs, they are leading to the monument.
Once on the top of a small hill you will see
the monument to your right, surrounded by

AAFI-AFICS BULLETIN, Vol. 82 No.2, 2023-10 58

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