Switzerland's favourite sausage, the cervelat, is a national icon. A new book published on Swiss National Day, August 1, takes a look at the popular Swiss banger, which enjoys universal popularity across the country. 

The Swiss produce different kinds of sausages but none are as famous as the cervelat, which evokes childhood memories of smoky barbeques. The traditional Swiss way of cooking a cervelat is to cut a cross shape on each end and to grill the sausage using a wooden skewer. As the meat sizzles and the skin turns dark brown you know it's ready when the two extremities start to open up like a flower. It's almost a sensual experience. 

Cervelats first appeared in 1900 at the time of the Exposition Universelle World Fair in Paris, where it was served as a Swiss delicacy. Today some 160 million cervelats, weighing 25,000 tonnes, are consumed raw, fried or grilled every year in Switzerland, which has a population of eight million. They make up around 30% of the Swiss meat industry's sausage output.

(Images: ROTH SCHMID/AS Verlag, Text: Gaby Ochsenbein/swissinfo.ch)

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