Various

Lost root vegetables are to return

by David Eppenberger

(17 February 2022) Many root vegetables once cultivated in Switzerland have been forgotten in the course of mechanisation. But seed expert Robert Zollinger is convinced that common salsify, rampion bellflower and greater burdock have many exciting flavours, colours and shapes that need to be rediscovered.

Book review

A declaration of love for Swiss literature

by Elisabeth Schriber

(15 October 2021) A friend handed me this book and asked me to write a review. I was greatly surprised that there are supposed to be 99 Swiss writers in Switzerland? A few came to mind from the time of my German studies at university. But 99 was a most impressive number. Of course, my interest was aroused and I started reading the preface, in which the publishers describe the makings of this work in a very vivid way. But read it for yourself:

The fact check

This article exists only in German. It hasn’t been translated.

Book review

“The Encyclopaedia of Ancient Vegetables”

by Sabine Vuilleumier

(23 September 2021) Four organisations from Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein* have jointly published “a standard work that sets new standards”, which is already in its 4th edition in 2021. More than 800 varieties of vegetables are presented in well-documented portraits. It reports where the vegetable varieties come from and how old they are, where they were grown, who developed and nurtured them.

Book Review

Governing through Fake News

International Conflicts: 30 years of fake news exploited by western countries

by Gabriel Galice*

(23 September 2021) Jacques Baud, the author of this book, was a General Staff Colonel of the Swiss strategic Intelligence. His academic background includes studying political science and econometrics. Expert in chemical and nuclear weapons, he was on-site (Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo) and in Intelligence Rooms (for the U.N. in New York, for NATO in Brussels). The "Encyclopédie du Renseignement et des Services Secrets" is among his first publications.

“Fishermen are part of the coast”

A trade forced to give up

by Marita Brune-Koch and Georg Koch

(6 September 2021) Freest is one of the last idyllic fishing villages on the German Baltic coast, near the island of Usedom. Fishing boats are rocking in the harbour. Nets, ropes and other fishing utensils complete the picture. Everything seems to be fine. But the idyll is deceptive. The fishermen can no longer make a living off fishing. The EU puts an end to them with its regulations.