What to eat for breakfast

I’ve probably already mentioned how delicious everything is here. Usually in the morning I have an omelet with some onions and peppers in it, and eat it with a slice of bread. If I’m feeling like I really need energy, I heat up muesli and add milk, just like oatmeal.

The milk here is UHT and comes in a box pack, which means you can keep it out of the refrigerator before opening it. At first I thought this was really strange, but now I realize that I can buy a bunch of it and treat it like canned food- let it sit on the shelf for a week before opening it. Some of the milk containers have pictures of flying cows or horned, evil-looking cows on them, I’m not sure why!

All of the food products have three languages- German, French, and Italian (in that order!)- because of the linguistic diversity of Switzerland. I like reading ingredients and comparing what the same thing is called in each language.

I try to pack leftovers for lunch at school, but sometimes I don’t have any and end up either buying some over-priced sandwich from the café here or packing some bread, cheese, and fruit from home. This is not an act of desperation- the bread is really great and I try to get different kinds of cheese each week (though gruyere is still my favorite by far!).

For dinner, I typically cook the same things as I did in the US: lots of vegetables. If you are thinking of moving here, consider eating meat less often- it’s at least $10 per pound, even the cheap kind on sale!

Lots of products are advertised as having Swiss origin, especially produce and dairy. They will usually tell you if the grapes are Swiss or Italian, or if the eggs are Swiss or French. Sometimes, they go into the details of which canton (state) in Switzerland the product comes from (I am in Vaud), even though they are really small!

There’s also lots of chocolate, but of course I haven’t been eating any of that.