Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern,

Americans are celebrating Thanksgiving today, but it’s the Swiss who are giving thanks right now for winning their first World Cup match against Cameroon. In this celebratory mood, I’ve dished up an ode to Switzerland and the US in today’s briefing. But first, the news.

Patrick Donini

In the news: Bird of the year, Swiss teens go crazy for TikTok, vegan foie gras, and Swiss solidarity with East Africa.

• The little perching marsh warbler succeeds the skylark as this year’s avian champion, chosen by BirdLife Switzerland for its virtuosic singing and peerless imitation skills.
• Swiss youths are experiencing worrying rates of online sexual harassment and cyberstalking, say researchers who produced the James study on youth online behaviour. This coincides with the meteoric use in the use of TikTok. Some 67% of young people regularly using the Chinese video-sharing app, compared to 51% two years ago and 8% in 2018. And Facebook? Only 5% of Swiss teens still use it regularly compared to 79% in 2014.
• The Federal Office of Culture has handed over two archaeological cultural objects to Mexico. The objects had been confiscated by local authorities after they were imported from Canada and suspected of being illegally excavated cultural goods.
• Swiss Solidarity, the humanitarian arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, received donations of more than CHF7 million ($7.4 million) on the nationwide collection day for victims of the food crisis in East Africa.
• Swiss consumer giant Nestlé is bringing vegan foie grasExternal link to local retailer Coop in time for the holidays. The production of foie gras has been banned in Switzerland for several years and imports of the fattened-liver pâté has declined. Nestlé hopes that its “Voie Gras” will offer a tasty, animal-friendly alternative.

© Keystone / Laurent Gillieron

Fans in Qatar are cheering for the Swiss national football team. But do they have any connection with Switzerland? Eh, does it matter?

It was a brilliant moment. Around 47 minutes into Switzerland’s first match at the World Cup, Breel Embolo scores, beating Cameroon 1:0. Only about 1,500 fans from Switzerland are said to have been in the Al-Janoub Stadium but those weren’t the only ones cheering for the Alpine nation.

Swiss public television, SRF, caught up with several people draped in Swiss flags in and around the stadium to see why they are supporting Switzerland. “I love Shaqiri,” said one Qatari fan of Switzerland. Another said they went to Switzerland and loved the countryExternal link, the watches and the chocolate.

When it comes to the World CupExternal link, we all have our favourite teams even if we never lived or spent time in the country. But this doesn’t sit well with everyone, especially as media reports circulate that Qatar paid fans, particularly from the Middle East and India, to come cheer on various teams and fill stadiums.

But as Simon Kuper of the Financial TimesreportsExternal link from Qatar today the “actual committed fan” is hard to come by at stadiums no matter where they are these days. The stands are filled with sponsors’ guests, whining journalists and wealthy football fans in stadiums that are “non-places”.

For the peak World Cup experience, stay home, says Kuper. The real World Cup happens in the world’s living rooms and cafés, among friends.

Keystone / Erik S. Lesser

Ode to America. If only it were so easy to find a Thanksgiving turkey in Switzerland.

If you want one of Beat Morf’s 3,500 turkeys today, you’re out of luck. People order weeks in advance for a holiday turkey. While it’s still a niche market, demand for turkeyExternal link has been growing at about 3-5% a year in Switzerland.

Most of the turkey meat that ends up on Swiss plates comes from abroad, according to a report in the Tages-Anzeiger today. Swiss production can only cover 18% of demand. The biggest producer is Frifag, which processes 90% of local turkey. There are 28 Swiss farmers who keep turkeys for Frifag – Morf is one of them.

While demand for turkey is growing, buying a whole turkey as most Americans do on Thanksgiving is still rare. For one, Swiss ovens aren’t big enough to fit a big bird. But some of it is just how some Swiss like to eat their turkey. As Morf tells the paper, his family likes to eat turkey pieces on a grill with Raclette.

In other news about the US, see here my colleague’s interview with US Ambassador to Switzerland Scott Miller.

Keystone / Walter Studer

And, a final nod to the Bernese and one of the most iconic, popular singers in Switzerland.

Mani Matter, one of German-speaking Switzerland’s most beloved musicians, died in a car crash at the age of 36 exactly 50 years ago today. His songs have lived on though in classrooms in Switzerland, where schoolchildren learn the lyrics for songs like Dynamit.

His lyrics didn’t shy away from controversialthemes but he’s largely an uncontroversial, universally beloved figure, writes SWI cultural correspondent Alan Mattli. For more on Matter’s life and legacy, read Mattli’s story here.