A Matter of Taste in Gstaad

Something offering hope to many a jaded palate has become an annual event in the Swiss mountain resort of Gstaad, where a seminar entitled "Taste" is going ahead this weekend.

Something offering hope to many a jaded palate has become an annual event in the Swiss mountain resort of Gstaad, where a seminar entitled “Taste” is going ahead this weekend.

The four-day seminar is the brain-child of Claudia and Thomas Frei, who run the Hotel Bernerhof in the village.

“We started it last year,” said Thomas Frei, “because many hotel and restaurant chefs around here feel we should remain faithful to the ethics and philosophy of authentic cooking with natural foods.”

The idea is that leading chefs from in and around Gstaad — and some from further afield — meet to exchange information about their gastronomic ideas and ideals.

While the seminar is attended by representatives of the food industry as well as meat, vegetable and cheese retailers, the stars of the show are chefs such as Robert Speth of the Chesery restaurant in Gstaad.

Speth believes the time has come for a back-to-basics approach in many restaurants, with simpler cooking styles.
“Some chefs put too many sauces on the same plate, or for instance with duck, too many different vegetables,” he said.

Another problem was that, because of their international clientele, hotels often only offered international cuisine.

“Standards can be very high,” said Speth. “But all too often you find the same cuisine from one hotel to another. They should be more different from each other.”


Written by SRI staff.