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FOOD AND DRINK

Why is Switzerland’s famous Matterhorn mountain disappearing from Toblerone bars?

Switzerland's iconic Matterhorn mountain is gradually disappearing from Toblerone's packaging to comply with "Swissness" laws. Here's what you need to know.

The Toblerone bar placed against the Matterhorn mountain in Switzerland.
The Toblerone bar placed against the Matterhorn mountain in Switzerland. Photo by Morgan Thompson on Unsplash

What’s happening?

The Alpine mountain motif, which is well known for its place on the wrapper of the world-famous chocolate bar Toberlone will melt away once the company’s new plant in Slovakia opens, it was announced this week.

Established in 1908 in the Tobler family factory, the instantly-recognisable triangular chocolate has so far been produced exclusively in Bern, the Alpine nation’s capital.

But Toblerone is opening its new plant in Bratislava in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023 “to meet increased global demand”, said the brand’s owner, US food giant Mondelez International.

That meant Toblerone had to replace “of Switzerland” on its packaging, which was revealed when the new Slovakia production line was announced in June
last year.

READ ALSO: When is something from Switzerland officially considered Swiss?

But along with “established in Switzerland” now appearing on the pack, the pyramid-shaped Matterhorn, a cherished national icon, is being replaced with a
generic triangular mountain, sparking heated debate in Switzerland.

“We have to adapt our packaging to the Swissness legislation,” a Mondelez spokeswoman told AFP.

“The pack redesign introduces a modernised and streamlined mountain logo, in line with the geometric and ‘be more triangle’ aesthetic.”

The Matterhorn image will no longer be featured on Toblerone chocolate. Image by Hans from Pixabay

However, the bear of Bern, symbol of the city, will still be hidden in the new mountain’s contours.

“More and more people will see the brand’s exciting new visual identity and packaging design, as it started to be rolled out across markets from Q3 2022,” the spokeswoman said.

Toblerone produces seven billion chocolate bars a year, with 97 percent exported to 120 countries.

They are ubiquitous at airport duty-free shops around the world, where one bar is sold every two seconds, according to Mondelez.

The name is a play on words from Tobler and “torrone” – the Italian name for honey-almond nougat.

What’s the reaction?

The Tribune de Geneve newspaper debated whether it was “commercial suicide” for Toblerone.

But Michael Kamm, owner of the communications agency Trio, said the brand was “very well established aside from its logo”, telling the daily newspaper that its shape, colours and letters were “emblematic and recognisable among a thousand”.

Fribourg University marketing professor Olivier Furrer added: “The Matterhorn is especially important for Swiss consumers, because it is a matter of pride.

“We may be offended by this change. But foreigners might not even notice.”

The news comes after Swiss pride took another hit last week.

A US appeals court ruled Friday that in the United States, the word “gruyere” is a common label for cheese and cannot be reserved just for the kind made originally in France or Switzerland, where the medieval town of Gruyeres is located.

“Cheese and chocolate are among the flagship products of the Swiss food industry,” Olivier Perrin wrote in an opinion piece published Monday by the Le Temps newspaper.

“It is therefore, for many, a shock” to find that Gruyere “can now be anything” and Toblerone is dropping the Matterhorn. Re-ouch.”

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SWITZERLAND EXPLAINED

‘Il fait bon chaud’: Geneva reveals how different French is in Switzerland

It is a well-known fact that the Swiss German language is totally different from ‘regular’ German. But what about the French spoken in Switzerland?

'Il fait bon chaud': Geneva reveals how different French is in Switzerland

Overall , the language of the Suisse Romande (the French part of Switzerland) is pretty similar to the one spoken in France.

In any case, it is not so different that the Swiss and the French don’t understand each other (so this can’t be the reason why the two sometimes look down on one other.)

READ ALSO: How the Swiss see their French neighbours — and vice versa

Here are some examples.

During the Francophone Week, which was held in French-speaking nations and regions of the world from March 14th to 23rd, the city of Geneva took to social media to highlight six typically Swiss-French expressions.

They are:

Ca va, le chalet?

This literally means, ‘how is your chalet?’ but in the Suisse Romande  it means ‘are you crazy?’

The same  expression in France is ‘tu es fou?’

Il n’y a pas le feu au lac 

No, this is not someone telling you the lake is on fire (which makes no sense whatsoever).

Instead, it expresses that something is not urgent — a message a French person would convey as ‘il n’y a pas d’urgence.’

Il fait bon chaud

Instead of saying simply ‘il fait chaud’, as any French person would, the Swiss prefer to interject the work ‘bon’ into this sentence — just because.

READ ALSO: Seven hacks you’ll need for life in French-speaking Switzerland

Remettre l’église au milieu du village 

You may think this means the intention to re-build a village church but, here too, you shouldn’t take this sentence literally.

In Switzerland, this means to put something in order or, as a French person would say, “remettre les choses en ordre.

Ça joue ou bien?

This means ‘is everything ok?’, or, if you only speak French-French, it’s simply ‘ça va?

Deçu en bien

For a Swiss person this phrase conveys that someone is pleasantly surprised — or ‘être agréablement surpris’ if you come from across the border.

But wait, there is more

The Swiss are not necessarily known for their penchant for simplicity, but when it comes to double-digit numbers, they opted for the less complex and tongue-twisting way than their French counterparts.

In France, for instance, 93 is quite a mouthful: quatre-vingt-treize (four twenties and 13), but the Swiss cut to the chase with nonante-trois (ninety-three).

Ditto for the number 70 (soixante-dix), 80 (quatre-vingt), and 90 (quatre-vingt-dix).

The Swiss-French equivalents, on the other hand, are the breezy septante, huitante, and nonante.

Other notable differences are, for example, collège or gymnase (high school) in French-speaking cantons, and ‘lycée’ in France.

Then there is la panosse (mop) in Switzerland, while the same thing is called la serpillière in France.

And another one is ‘Nom de bleu’, it is basically ‘dammit’ (pardon our French) — which is ‘nom de dieu’ in France.

READ ALSO: The Swiss French words which help you sound like a local

This is by no means is an exhaustive list, though many people may find it exhausting nevertheless.

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