What supermarket chain in CH would be the corresponding one to Waitrose (UK) or Whole Foods (US) in terms of quality?
Are local weekly markets any good to buy vegetables and fruit?
Many thanks!
Hi
There is no such nonsense in Swiss [sic on purpose]
People buy food from Co-op or Migros, the organic crowd go for bio and pay through the nose or buy from local farmers at the weekend.
The bargain hunters / scrimpers / cheapskates go to Aldi, Lidle and the like or they simply nip across the border for their weekly food shop.
The End
Manor food court (it's like a small Waitrose). There's nothing like Whole Foods.
Globus food court is similar to the Manor one (i.e. still not a patch on, say, the Selfridges food court or a large Whole Foods) but more expensive and some more exclusive products.
I'm in Basel. I would assume Zurich has better/more options.
Ok, many thanks. Looks like for daily standard food I should then stick to Co-op and Migros. We are looking for an apartment to rent and I would like to have basics handy.
Agree so far, lol. But the open markets are pretty good and very reasonable. Most towns and small villages have a market once or twice a week. We also get a firm from Valais that delivers very reasonable fruit and veg, ordered in advance with a drop off all over the area at a per-advertised time.
IMO, Co-op is comparable to Waitrose in terms of quality though there's less choice -especially with regards to game and lamb.
Yes, and meat and local fish.
Lots of farms have shops where you can buy their fruit (plums, apples, cherries, pears etc) and veg in season, and eggs.
Sadly, nothing like Whole Foods here
But the supermarkets do have great organic produce, dairy, eggs, fish, chicken and meat. Müller Reformhaus (equivalent of a health food store) also has a selection of items (dried fruit, nuts, oils, spreads, flours, grains, juice, rice/almond milks, etc.) but the prices can be a bit steep. There are also local green markets and you can buy some things directly from farms.
Vitamins, supplements and homeopathic remedies are available in most pharmacies/drogueries, though you won't find exactly what you can find in Whole Foods.
I usually go to the US twice a year to stock up on things like that, that I can't find here. Otherwise, the Organic Pharmacy ships here, as do places like Vitacost and iHerb.
PM me if you have questions or need any other info. Good luck!
I prefer Manor.
Tom
Depends where you live. After having been an avid Waitrose and Whole Foods shopper, I find that you get most of what you need at Coop. Migros tends to lack diversity in the organic section, but they sometimes carry items that Coop don't have. Consider non-Swiss sources too, for example, I live close enough to the French border that I can justify a good shopping trip to the supermarkets and specialty shops over there. Near Geneva there is a specialty shop called Satoriz which is the size of the check out zone at the Whole Foods in Kensington, but it's the closest you're going to get over here! There is also an Intermarché in Gex that has a good organic food selection, bar the meat (only a few beef steaks and chicken breasts). In terms of Swiss sources, there is a growing trend of "paniers bio" (organic baskets) - similar to Abel & Cole in the UK. One that I have come across recently (but have yet to test) is www.clos-du-moulin.ch Let me know if you turn up anything else, especially for Easter lamb or whole turkey.
Happy shopping!
I've walked into one of these Manor food shops once or twice by chance (Zuerich and Geneva)... Seems good, I remember buying some Duck a l'orange from there. The Manor in Zug doesn't have a food section and not being the type to get over excited with all of these fancy posh shops I'm not gonna bother driving 30km to Zurich just to do my shopping.
There are three in Lugano (well, one is just outside), so convenient for me.
Tom
I'm from the U.S. and shopped fairly exclusively at Whole Foods (mainly because it was on my walk home from work and the quality was far superior to the big supermarkets). I'm not an eco-nut or an organic lifestyle person but I will seek out and pay for quality products.
In the past two months living in Lausanne, I've been honing my shopping haunts and, for the most part, I'm happier with the food options here. On a daily basis I go to Coop. If I need a specialty product I go to Globus Delicatessa. On the weekend I give my business to local farmers. Between these I have been able to find everything needed to cook with. My fiancé, who bakes, has had slightly more trouble finding her favorite ingredients (especially the clichéd brown sugar).
I hear Manor is supposed to be quite good so I'll go check out that store this week. Best of luck with your search!
P.S. For specific items with no Swiss equivalent we get them shipped from friends and family in the US.
Thank you so much for all the kind replies. Food is important for us and we like good quality food (which has nothing to do in eating delicatessen or expensive meals). I just want that a tomato smells and tastes like a tomato and that meat and fish looks healthy and fresh. The rest is on the chef!!
Just out of curiosity, what makes you happier with the food options here? I mean, sure, you can get a box of multi-grain cheerios for 10 CHF at the Globus Delicatessa, but I can't say that it's a delicacy.
Quality of produce aside, as the produce is overall reasonably good, I don't think it's fair to even compare WF and any store here as there's simply nowhere near the variety. I imagine I will weep upon seeing the butcher in WF when we get back in a few weeks. Also, you'll never see a whole aisle dedicated to underpants as you do in Migros.
I don't know where you're moving too, but if it's Zurich, then there is the excellent Oerlikon market on Saturday mornings. It's the biggest of the weekly 'farmers markets' in Zurich and an excellent source of very tasty seasonal fruit & veg & good meat & fish.
It's obviously more expensive than the big two supermarkets, but the quality is vastly superior & keeps longer & less ends up thrown away so I reckon it all balances out in the end - anyway, if you're used to shopping in Waitrose & Whole Pay Check, I'm sure the odd few francs extra won't bother you
The supermarkets here take a bit of getting used to in terms of choice (lack off it) compared to those in the UK, but most things are found easily enough in the cities via more specialist shops (Asian/indian, etc)of which there are plenty.
If you've just managed to slip a Withnail & I reference in there, then bloody good work!
If however, you're mouthing whatthefckareyoutalkingabout at the screen, then nevermind
Hee...wow, you must be old like me! It wasn't a deliberate reference but...hee, gosh, I had forgotten about that movie and that scene. I'll just be weeping at the sight of all that glorious meat I've not indulged in for the past year. I'm looking forward to the biggest piece of sirloin I can carry home.
Where does the OP live? I think there are a lot of choices, depending where you live, and if you're willing to search. It can be time consuming.
For example, I've become a huge fan of the Oerlikon market on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Amazing vegetables that are reasonable, meats, cheeses, etc. I've become addicted to this Tuscan grass stuff, and I have a ready source of squash blossoms. There's a guy with great greek yogurt and fab olives.
In Dietlikon there's a fish store and I'm going to get some fresh anchovies this week.
In Winterthur, where I live, there is an Italian deli, an Asian store, and the coop and Migros are reasonable.
Now all I need is a butcher, but I'm eating less meat anyway.
The choices in Bern were not as many, although I had a great butcher, access to Asian stuff and a hofladen with eggs right from the chicken.
In the US I shopped regularly at Whole Foods - although the availability of ethnic stuff and interesting fish in North Carolina was sometimes sketchy. I got really pissed when they stopped carrying real proscuitto, etc. And I do miss Humbolt Fog cheese and a nice mild colby to melt.
For vegetables, one option is to get a weekly mixed bag delivery from a local farm (you would need to find out about the possibilities where you live). When I was working in Neuchâtel, one of the local farms would deliver bags to about 15 of us in the office once a week. You never knew what you were going to get, but that was a good thing - I certainly discovered a few vegetables that I have never seen in the shops and would not have known existed otherwise. The delivery was accompanied by an email from the farm with recipe ideas and explanations of how to cook the more "exotic" veg. It cost 16 CHF a week for what was sold as a bag for a family of two, which I thought was very reasonable.
First, I would agree with you that Cheerios are not a delicacy. A really good salsa would be (as almost everywhere sells Old El Paso...need I say more?). So for specialty items, Globus has been great. Even a can of italian cannellini beans in their own liquid (and not the usual white beans in brine) is a delicacy to me. It never was in the US at Whole Foods, but we're talking relativity.
In terms of the food options, I actually find too much selection a negative. I don't need every possible option every day of the year. So what I look for is produce that's in season (the best time to eat it right?) and use it to focus my cooking. I'm surprised to hear you don't have good butchers nearby. Perhaps I've been lucky to find two excellent butchers within a two block radius of my apartment. Nothing lacking there! In fact, I could never find rabbit at Whole Foods...here it's around the corner.
Yes...Whole Foods is a mecca in many ways (especially aesthetically as you reference)...call me old fashioned but I like to go to the cheese monger and the boulanger and the butcher and take my time finding the right items. I like to shop local and get to know the people behind the counters. Whole Foods, like Starbucks has created a homey feel for a very corporate experience...that's just not my kind of nirvana.