POSTCARD: Would You Like Raclette With That?

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND. Home to the United Nations and hundreds of other international organizations, Geneva plays host to a great deal of foreigners, roughly forty percent of its population and a smattering of languages. With all these foreigners to please, you can be sure that Genevans are passionate about one thing: food. Hundreds of restaurants, featuring dozens of cuisines, line the streets of Geneva and open up a world of possibilities for the curious eater.

The first thing our group of thirty-three Americans learned is that the Swiss take mealtime seriously. On most days, we are allotted an hour and a half to two hours for lunch—a far cry from my typical fifteen-minute lunches in Mather en route to class. Although Geneva is a fairly expensive city, our program’s lunch stipend of 14 Swiss francs per day (approximately $14) can go a long way. Last week alone, I ate Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, Indian, Swiss, Italian, and Turkish food. Homesick for America? Fear not. You can still enjoy McDonald’s, Domino’s Pizza, or Starbucks—just be ready to pay the equivalent of $13 for a Big Mac Meal, $36 for a large pizza, or $7 for a tall Americano.

Though the Swiss borrow their food from around the world, they do have one particular claim to fame: raclette. Raclette consists of fondue-like melted cheese drizzled over potatoes, accompanied by pepper and pickles. Last week, we had a program-wide raclette dinner with all the participating students and their host families. After dinner, however, we Americans agreed that we are still not quite sure why the Swiss make such a big deal of raclette. Eat it too slowly, and the cheese hardens. Eat it too quickly, and you feel your arteries clogging. The Swiss advise drinking hot tea or wine with it, for water or beer will cause the cheese to harden into a particularly uncomfortable mass in your stomach.

Deciphering how to order and pay for meals in Geneva is another challenge. While Geneva is officially in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, most Genevans speak multiple languages and are almost always passable in English. Last week at an Indian restaurant, however, Olivia—a lovely Southern girl who is determined to speak French as much as humanly possible—continued to order in French even after the waitress detected her American-ness and resorted to English. After an odd dialogue in which the waitress asked questions in English and Olivia replied in French, the waitress finally instructed us all to speak English because she knows English much better than French. So much for trying to practice the national language.

My week of chicken curry, dumplings, pho, crepes, chicken tikka masala, raclette, veal saltimbocca, and kebabs provided me with a tasty introduction to the vibrant cultural palette of Geneva. And since Switzerland is located in the middle of Europe, in the next few months I’ll have the opportunity to visit many of the countries where these cuisines originated. But for now, back to improving my French. A bientôt!

Kristen E. Logan ’12 is a Government concentrator in Mather House. She is studying abroad in Geneva, Switzerland.