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duction, and organizes regular exhibitions of cheese in the DNA of Swiss history and cul-
different cheeses. But how many are there? It ture (and this is our host country!), was the
is not that easy to answer – there are different reason why I decided to write a book about
divisions, sort, hard, semi-hard, and so on – Swiss cheese, its traditions and values. Trav-
within these grades are many varieties, per- eling around the country, studying cultural
haps 700 to a thousand. Each family produces habits and historical traditions, sometimes
its own cheese: in the high mountain valley, living with the cheesemakers and learning
near the glaciers, in the villages, or in town, from them as we made cheese together, I
and each has their own production secrets. have collected a huge treasury of knowledge.
I have for many years travelled and told his-
There are cheeses that can be eaten on the torical, cultural or nature stories. Now I will
day, or the day following, like ricotta, and do the same thing with cheese, and the cheese
there are those that must be kept for three traditions of Switzerland. This book on every
years or longer, maturing to an unforgetta- Canton of Switzerland and its cheese should
ble taste. The usual maturing time for most be finished by the end of 2023.
cheeses is 3 months. This is exactly the length
of summer in the high mountains, between My former UN special colleague of 20 years,
when the cattle is brought up in June/July un- David Winch has a similar love of Swiss
til it goes back - called “Désalpe” in French cheese. He lived and worked in Geneva for
- in September, carrying with it the moun- many decades as Chief Editor and is now a
tain cheese to store in cellars for the winter writer in Canada, and will accompany me on
ahead. Of course, there are dairies that pro- my journeys to co-author the book. We hope
duce cheese all year round, but it is the sum- this book will be of interest to all internation-
mer cheese from the high mountain alpages al colleagues here, current and former, but
which is the most valuable because it usually also to many countries in the world where
contains only natural ingredients, and unpas- Swiss cheese is not known deeply enough. We
teurized milk, all first-hand and completely want it to be of interest to Swiss people too, as
organic. there is currently no complete extensive book
on the topic. We will also be looking for pa-
Having a feeling that there is an insufficient trons and publishers, so if you are interested,
understanding of the real significance of get in touch!

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