ZURICH.- “Show me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.” In a world where sharing pictures of your latest meal on social media is all the rage, the familiar adage takes on a whole new relevance. With endless information at our fingertips, knowing where food comes from, consuming seasonal produce and enquiring into the working conditions of everyone involved in its production have become major concerns. Decisions on what to eat are influenced by social, political and economic considerations. Food is not just about sustenance: it is also a nexus of cultural and medical practices and an expression of religious and ethical choices.

Taking its cue from the times in which we live, the exhibition “À table! What does Switzerland eat?” sets out to explore what’s bubbling away in the cooking pots of Homo helveticus. Swiss culinary culture is constantly changing, and this is reflected in the wide variety of its regional specialities. What is our food heritage? Where do its roots lie? Combining a scientific, historical and sometimes playful approach, not forgetting the gourmet side of the topic, this exhibition serves up a fascinating and diverse menu covering everything from table manners and the myriad ways of preparing and consuming food to the mechanisms behind famine and plenty, taboos and culinary trends.

In association with Slow Food and La Maison de la Rivière, the exhibition at the Swiss National Museum – Château de Prangins turns the spotlight on French-speaking Switzerland, with a new display and objects yet unseen. It also emphasizes the social ties created via family recipes and the knowledge shared through professional innovations, while local production, biodiversity and plant heritage will be examined season by season in the museum’s kitchen garden – the largest conservatory of forgotten vegetable varieties and rare fruits in Switzerland.

Eating is about more than the sustenance of life. The choices we make about what to eat and what to avoid are motivated by social, economic, ethical, religious and health concerns. Switzerland does not have a national cuisine. Nevertheless, over the centuries it has built a rich culinary heritage that reflects its cultural diversity and manifests itself both throughout its lands and in the movement of people, foodstuffs and knowledge about cookery.

Drawing inspiration from the banquet and the bistro table, an entertaining and colourful exhibition design presents objects from the valuable to the everyday, old photographs, educational and multimedia resources on a range of topics:

- Dining culture and table manners
- From open fireplace to microwave: family recipes and haute cuisine
- Female chefs take over the kitchen
- Swiss culinary heritage
- The origins and distribution of fruits and vegetables
- Hungry for meat
- Hunger and abundance
- Trends, taboos and the future of food
- Kitchen garden and visitor centre

When did we start using knives, forks and spoons?
What is the origin of table manners, with their guidance on how to conduct ourselves at the table and use cutlery, tableware and serviettes correctly? The exhibition opens with one of the finest items from the Swiss National Museum’s collections: a linen tablecloth dating from the early 16th century. Its embroidered motifs reveal a fully laid table, with plates, bowls, glasses and knives – but, as yet, no forks. In the years thereafter, tableware and table manners will come to serve as markers reflecting social hierarchies and lifestyles, as will the places where people eat and the composition of their meals. What did we eat in days gone by, and what makes up our diet today? And what of the future? Where do tomatoes, corn, strawberries and potatoes come from? Planting potatoes became commonplace in times of shortage, such as the famine that affected the Vaud region in 1771–1772: the potato was a substitute for the cereals and bread that were most people’s staple diet at the time. When did fondue – now regarded as the quintessential Swiss dish – come into being, and who invented it? The earliest recipe did not appear until 1699, in a cookery book from Zurich; though it still did not include bread or a fork to dip it into the pot of cheese. Fondue as we know it today is actually a recent invention, the product of an advertising campaign conducted in the 1930s by the Swiss cheese marketing association. Today it is eaten more or less everywhere, but the recipes used to prepare it differ markedly from region to region. These are just some of the questions that À table! sets out to answer.

The exhibition also turns the spotlight on French-speaking Switzerland in particular. The Swiss National Museum has teamed up with the Maison de la Rivière to tell the story of fish in Lake Geneva since Roman times – when new species were already being introduced into its waters – through objects from its collections. As the lake shores become increasingly built up and water quality changes, however, some of those species are now dying out; nevertheless, almost 120 people still make a living by fishing for them. Switzerland boasts a large number of starred restaurants, many of which are located around Lake Geneva. Award-winning female chefs from French-speaking Switzerland – Marie Robert, Virginie Tinembart, Catherine Praud, Marianne Rohrer and Cécilia Zapata – revisit traditional recipes to produce dishes that visitors will be able to take away.