Refugee Food is a global project run by an association, which aims to raise awareness of the situation of refugees, accelerate the professional integration of refugees in the catering industry, and work towards tasty, fair and sustainable food for all. Initially a culinary festival born in 2016, the project has broadly diversified to become a global project responding to the various issues of reception and integration in France and Geneva.
Nearly a hundred establishments, from Michelin-starred restaurants to neighborhood canteens, are opening their stoves to refugee cooks for unique culinary collaborations. The aim of this culinary and solidarity event is to change the way we look at refugees by promoting their culinary heritage, to speed up their integration into the catering industry, and to mobilize civil society around the table!
GENEVA: 12-20 June 2023
For World Refugee Day, Geneva's most committed restaurants are opening their kitchens to chefs from abroad. Six restaurants have hosted these chefs and the closing evening for Geneva will be this Tuesday.
Tuesday, 20 June 2023
BAINS DES PAQUIS - Closing evening, Ivorian dinner by Basile Neoulo
Quai du Mont-Blanc 30
1201 Genève
19h30-23h30
Reservations directly with the restaurant
http://buvettedesbains.com
Created in 2005 and organized by the City of Versoix, Festichoc is a family festival showcasing quality chocolate and its crafts. It allows its visitors to taste the creations of the best chocolate makers in Switzerland!
25-26 March 2023: Make sure to go to this 17th edition of Versoix's Chocolate festival! It's a great day out and you will see some spectacular works of chocolate art as well as taste some great combinations. You might even find some new chocolates that become your favorite! There are 100s of little chocolate shops around Switzerland but Versoix only has room for the ones listed below. This exhibit might change your mind about industrial chocolate forever!
A few years ago I bought a chocolate ring: the ring was metal but they "glued" a fancy chocolate to it and I gave it to a friend (see photo below). Other non-chocolate items included beautifully-colored macarons, bags and calculators (chocolate-themed), and candies. One artisan had a box of 10 different chocolates, each accompanied by the name of the best wine to drink to enhance the flavor, another made the biggest easter egg I have ever seen, while another had chocolate truffles the size of footballs!
For this 17th edition, sustainable development is the key word. In order to continue waste reduction and to banish the use of single-use plastic, all the catering stands will henceforth use only reusable tableware. A deposit system will help manage the return of these as it has been the case for several years with cups and glasses. The public are encouraged to come with their own dishes and utensils if they prefer.
La Bonbonnière chocolate factory, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, is inaugurating L'École du Chocolat on the first floor of its arcade in the center of Geneva in early November 2022.
L'École du Chocolat, open all year round, offers a wide range of workshops and services for chocolate lovers of all ages and professionals.
A unique place to introduce young and old to the art of chocolate making
In a modern laboratory where everything has been designed for young and old to live an immersive experience in the Swiss artisanal chocolate industry, L'École du Chocolat offers workshops during which participants discover the history of chocolate, taste La Bonbonnière's creations and make their own chocolates.
By booking online for a 1 to 2 hour workshop or by privatizing the space for a personalized experience (team buildings, birthdays, afterworks, etc.), apprentice chocolatiers are guided throughout the process by professionals to make chocolate cards, bars, rochers or other thematic chocolate creations according to the seasons, for example a marmite before the Escalade festival.
Once a month, an afterwork is also organized to spend a pleasant moment tasting and making chocolate, while relaxing around a drink.
"In the Chocolate School program, we have workshops for families, for adults and for children, everyone can find the chocolate experience that suits them and this throughout the year. We are looking forward to introducing the Geneva public as well as chocolate lovers visiting Geneva to the making of artisanal chocolate" says Cédric Rahm, co-director of La Bonbonnière.
The workshops are given in French, but can be conducted in English or translated into another language on request by an interpreter. For the administrative and logistical management of these workshops, La Bonbonnière has chosen to rely on Illico Travel & Business Services, a partner that is used to highlighting Geneva's history and know-how, notably through personalized guided tours of Geneva.
A PAIR OF CHOCOLAT PASSPORTS UP FOR GRABS! Read below.
The Rallye du Chocolat© will wrap Geneva on Saturday, 8 October 2022 in deliciousness for everyone's pleasure. Originally created to celebrate World Cocoa and Chocolate Day, the Rallye raises public awareness of sustainable development in the cocoa and chocolate sector by offering tastings of chocolate creations made by talented chocolate makers.
This year, 12 chocolate makers from Geneva will compete with each other on the theme "Grué and red fruit(s)". Young and old gourmets alike are invited to stroll through the city and push open the doors of the chocolate shops to discover these cocoa treasures as well as the clues needed to reconstruct the mystery phrase that will allow them to participate in the contest. A draw among the public will decide the winners who will receive chocolate gifts and the coveted "ChoConnaisseurs" diploma. The public elects their favorite chocolatiers, while a jury of experts awards the Jury Prize to the best chocolatier of the Rally.
To your taste buds, the Rallye du Chocolat© will melt Geneva!
We can't wait for October 8th to discover between 10am and 5pm the chocolate creations concocted by the artisans. This year, 12 chocolatiers divided into 3 courses A, B and C compete with each other to elaborate a chocolate on the theme "Grué and red fruit(s)".
World Cocoa and Chocolate Day (WCDD) to celebrate the work of cocoa farmers
Declared on October 1st, WCDD aims to raise public awareness of the work of small-scale cocoa farmers who produce 95% of the world's cocoa. The chocolate industry is increasingly committed to charters that respect producers and maintain guidelines regarding the sustainability and traceability of the cocoa used. The Rallye du Chocolat© supports this day by directly addressing the public and the chocolate makers with the presence of Grué in the chocolate creations.
When the sun beckons us outside, it incites us to eat fresh produce and nothing is more beautiful than a farmer’s market with all the spectacular colors! Just have a look at the vibrant assortment on a stand at Sion's Friday morning market pictured above if you don’t believe me.
In the Wednesday morning Rive market in Geneva, one item of interest was an Italian cheese, Asiago, which is made in the region of Vicenza and Trento. It is an unpasteurized, hard cheese, that tastes of butter. The friendly vendor offered a sliver for us to try and we were sold. I was curious about the size, color, and shape of the wheel which looks like a black car tire! Apparently there are lots of other types of Asiago but this one was semi-hard with misshaped holes. Beautiful.
Another Italian produce that attracted my eye was the radicchio, an endive type lettuce with long, red, thin leaves. It is slightly bitter but in a salad it did just the trick.
As the seasons change, so does the selection. Locally grown vine-ripened tomotoes, grapes, apples, and pumpkins are in season now. Have you tried Etivaz cheese in the Spring before? The taste is outstanding. How about trying dandilion greens (dent-de-lion) for a salad with crispy bacon in the Spring? Of course, the cardon genevoise makes it appearance around Christmastime and stands selling wonderful gingerbread make it all worth it!
If you are in the mood for some fresh produce here is a reminder of other farmer’s markets in your area.
