William Tell at the table

Among the herdsmen and hunters of the early cantons, the meal is not arranged into starter-main-dessert. It is organized around what the mountain provides throughout the day: the mues (cereal porridge with milk) that opens and closes the day, the dark bread and hard cheese that are carried everywhere, the dried reserves of the granary (Spycher) for winter, and the roast game reserved for special days. The drink, often made from orchard apples, accompanies or warms. Everything is dictated by altitude, short seasons, and mountain frugality.

Extra-hard cheese from the alpine pastures of central Switzerland, attested since the Middle Ages in the Lake Lucerne region. Aged for months, it is stored, transported, and grated: it is the concentrated umami of the mountain, the signature that connects almost all meals in Uri.