I want to have a few friends together for a barbecue for my husband's birthday. There might be around 8-10 of us. I have seen some public benches and grills by the lake and Sihl river near us, but I was wondering what the etiquette is for commandeering one of those grills? Do you have to go really early and claim it for the afternoon, or is there a time limit for how long someone can use it?
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Just get there early enough, or take your own BBQ and just claim a big patch of grass with towels for you all to sit on.
And ensure you leave no rubbish, of course, so use bins or take it home with you.
Rock up when you are ready, remove the sign and party away.
Don't worry, no one will come and say anything to you, that would require face to face dialogue, simply wont happen. You might have a note written on a serviette stuffed on your charcoal or something, just discard that in the bin when you clean up after yourself.
Have fun
First of all, get the notion out of your head that you must claim it. Or that you can claim it. There is no such thing anywhere. And if you do claim it for your own, you're immediately regarded as an a-grade asshole.
Public barbecues in Switzerland are one huge get-together. And you talk to one another. So you're ten people? So are they. I'm pretty sure there's enough space on the grill for at least fifteen meat-things, so why not have a get-together of twenty people? "But", I hear you say, "I don't speak German that well!" Who cares? Meat is meat, it's on the grill, everyone knows what done meat looks like. And besides, you make friends at a public barbecue. All in all, it's awesome.
So here's the rules.
Do not claim the grill. Never. If you have a spot on the grill, offer it to another group, if they're waiting for a spot. Bring one of these bags of coal that cost around eight Francs at Coop. They're five kilogram bags, I think. Or six. Something around that. If someone's got something on the grill already and you see a spot, ask them if you can have it. Should you have something on the grill and you notice that someone else's meat or whathaveyou is burning, tell them and offer to flip it. Share your beer and beer will be shared with you. Do not - under any circumstance - leave your mess lying about. This is not only rude, but also disgusting and bad for the environment. If you notice other people's mess in your path, pick it up. Say "Hi" to everyone using the grill at the same time. Make polite conversation. If they need something like a sauce that you have plenty of, let them have some.
Pro-tips:
Put your drinks in the river to keep them extra-cool. Bring blankets and towels to create additional seating space. Tell the guests to dress accordingly and bring their swimming gear. Bring enough crisps and food that doesn't need to be made on the grill. Bring old newspapers to kindle a fire. Just in case. If you don't need the coal or the papers, leave them at the barbecue. Someone will love you for it.
Basically: Don't be a dick, socialize and help out wherever you can.
EDIT: Do not listen to any of this as it's completely wrong. Every word of it. Wrong.
Leave your mobiles at home. It's so worth it. Don't bring iPods or other music-making devices. Don't plan on getting this over too quickly. Plan that you'll be needing the entire afternoon and maybe a fair bit of evening for it. Buy Anti-Brumm - that is arguably Switzerland's greatest invention: A disgusting-smelling spray that scares off bugs when applied to your skin - and use it liberally. Share that bottle and you'll be the hero of the day.
Best piece of advice ... bring kitchen tongues to turn your stuff over. The correct thing to do is use your army knife -or even use your knife to whittle a stick for the purpose, but its pretty hit and miss and now where ever I go grilling (even high up mountains where you forage for wood and there is no actual grill) I take the tongues. I usually end up loaning them out to fellow grillers. Its a good way to start a conversation going!!
Well not every word of it was wrong, most of it was actually right. But yes, you should not put a sign on the BBQ, this would be poor form. I always forget sarcasm, even when it appears to be very obvious from my angle, can be taken seriously by others.
I understood the sarcasm
We use the communal grills next to the lake by ours all the time and the key is to not hog the grill. 1-2 hours, done. But I usually offer to share the use of the grill (even though I am still grilling) if someone comes along and its a small-ish group.
Also, even if your shit is on the table, people who use the grill after you will use the table too, mixing things up. Took a while for me to get used to that.
Key word being communal. Be friendly, share, practice your German and make some new acquaintances along the way!
PS: CLEAN UP is implicit here yea...
Any foods that might cause a flame out on a regular bbq need special care!
There is the hot plate grills, in Wollishofen for example, and those can’t really be claimed as there large and the heat source is not your own expense.
But the pits, that require coal at your own expense, I think if you have got there before it is in use and fired up your coal then the use of that pit is yours and yours only, available to others at your discretion until the point you are done. Of course there is an element of awareness and not being a dick about it in a sense that you cook all your stuff up and clear the pit for the next person in a reasonable time frame and do not hog it for the whole day i.e. in 1-2 hours or whatever it takes to cook all your stuff.
But I do not think there is an obligation to allow others to disturb the flow of your meal prep and use your fuel unless you want them too and they can’t really moan about that. To be honest no ones really asked us or assumed they could use it when it was in use by us, and merely waited until we were done and vice versa, common sense to my mind.
Not sure why you would leave mobiles at home and not take music devices either. Despite popular opinion, people do have fun in Switzerland and enjoy music. Again, you wouldn’t own the whole area with blasting speakers being a dick about it, but nothing wrong with projecting your spot with some music. Well we have never had problems.
The rolled wood shaving things are better
Let me ask you a general question: Do you think of the people at the firepits as your opponents? Have you ever tried to see them as someone just like you? And I know this sounds rather offensive as you claim firepits and feel good about it (which, really, you shouldn't), but I am trying to wrap my head around your mindset. If you've never been to a firepit, then I can see how you'd think that people would like to snatch your spot, spit on your meat and generally make you miserable. But if you've been once, you will notice that the Swiss are quite friendly about all this.
And if you're so hellbent on just wolfing down your meat, then why do you bother going to a public firepit? They're there for the community. Eating is part of that community, yes. But, as I said, it's nowhere near a hit-and-run ordeal. If you want that, get your own bloody grill and eat at home. Because that way, you're not pissing anyone off and you're not pissed off by others' demand for food.
Small minds and all that, you know...
As I said, public barbecues are not about your party alone, it's about everyone. In all my years of doing this - the most recent one was last night down at the lake - I have not once had an issue with not getting my food or someone else claiming the fire for themselves or even going "Listen, we are really hungry. Can you just wait?"
The thing about the Swiss way of life is that people try to find a way to co-exist. Sure, this might be strange at first, especially if you're not used to all the things this entails, but it's quite a nice feeling actually. You go to the firepit, someone's got a fire going, you just join in and somehow, everyone gets their food.
Now, as for why I said the things about the iPods and the phones. It's not considered impolite to bring these things. But going to the firepit is a great way to just get away from everyday life. If you can play, bring a guitar. That's usually fun. This is less a rule, but more a bit of advice. It's immensely liberating and an amazing lot of fun if you're just you and the people who also happen to be there. The world will turn on its own and you're there, enjoying an afternoon at the water, grilling all the things. And when you get home, your iPod's waiting for you, all charged up, and your phone lets you know immediately what you've missed.
tl;dr: You have no idea what you're talking about and you are quite possibly someone nobody wants at a firepit. And for that, I feel kind of sorry.