From May 16, Zurich will be all about food and culinary delights for 11 days. Taking place for the fourth time, this year’s Food Zurich festival brings more than 140 events to town. We have fought our way through the vast programme and have come up with the following recommendations. Enjoy!
If you thought a food festival is just about eating and drinking, think again. At Food Zurich you can even learn something! You can attend workshops on how to make pasta or so-called nose-to-tail cooking lessons, just to name a couple. Sound like too much work? Don’t worry, there are plenty of events where you can just enjoy and savour the range of cuisine, which is truly impressive. This year’s festival theme is pairing. Over 40 of the city’s restaurants will participate and offer a special dish offering their own interpretation of pairing.
This year, for the first time, the centre of the festival, called Chuchi (kitchen), will be located at Europaallee, right in the centre of the city next to the main train station. Here you can expect workshops, cooking lessons and seminars and if you’re lucky you might even get a free sample of some delicacies when passing by. A restaurant and bar are also available.
Natural Wine? Naturally!
In a tasting session called ‘Comeback of the Swiss Natural Wines’ you’ll get to know some local natural wines, or naturweine in German. After the tasting, the kitchen crew of the Rechberg 1837 restaurant will indulge you with a 4-course meal, not to mention all of the open wines just waiting to be enjoyed.
Zurich In Your Pocket says-> Sounds like a perfect occasion to get to know the increasingly trendy natural wines.
Fri May 17, 20:00. For more information and booking: click here.
Fat and Acid
The following is common knowledge: fat makes food taste better, more intense and more exquisite. When fat and acid are combined, they can become either faithful companions or the worst of enemies. At Wirtschaft zum Franz Larissa Graf and Natalie Shafrir bring those two elements together for a delicious balancing act.
Zurich In Your Pocket says –> Wirtschaft zum Franz is one of our favourite restaurants all year round. We’re sure that this special event will not disappoint.
Wed May 22 & Thu May 23, 19.30 For more information and booking: click here.
Vermouth Workshop
Vermouth is the drink of the hour and here you get to learn everything about it while creating your very own vermouth to take home. Michael Kampmann, the manager of the Chinchona bar, and his team will tell you everything they know about vermouth, how it’s made and how to mix great cocktails with this special fortified wine. You can even aromatize your own bottle of vermouth. A tasting session with a variety of vermouths, two drinks and some finger food are also included.
Zurich In Your Pocket says-> The laid back Chinchona bar seems like the perfect venue for this workshop.
Sat May 25, 17:00 For more information and booking: click here.
Leaf to Root
In this workshop, Esther Kern, co-author of the book Leaf to Root – Eating Vegetables from Leaf to Root, explains what you can cook with parts of vegetables that you probably usually chuck into the bin. Think kohlrabi leaf chips, radish leaf and cream cheese spread or banana peel cake, just to name a few. It’ll be exotic – even though many of the ingredients can be found only steps away from your doorstep.
Zurich In Your Pocket says -> Sounds like not only a reasonable approach to cooking in the name of sustainability, but also a fun way to add some new recipes to your repertoire.
Sat May 18, 13:00 For more information and booking: click here.
Fooby Food Zurich Chuchi Fäscht
This is the grand finale of the Food Zurich festival and has been a blast in previous years, so don’t miss it. It will take place around the centre of the festival at Europaallee, right next to the main train station. Over 20 of the city’s restaurants will send their best chefs to prepare bits and bites, which you can taste at different stalls in small sizes and at affordable prices. Zurich’s chefs will be supported by colleagues from Switzerland’s other linguistic regions: the Grisons, the Romandie and Ticino. In addition to this spectacle, roughly 50 culinary craftspeople will be selling their creations at the market. Needless to say, bars and DJs will also be on offer. It’s open-air, so let’s hope for good weather.
Zurich In Your Pocket says -> Definitely the highlight of the festival and not to be missed. See you there!
Sat May 25, 14:00 – 24:00, after party at Kosmos and Chinchona Bar. For more infos click here.