This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
In Zurich, the vegetarian restaurant Haus Hiltl is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. While you could enter through the back door at the time for the sake of not being seen, today no one is bothered to sit there, quite the contrary! Visit.
How difficult it is to imagine that on the site of the elegant building before us was born, in 1898, the very first vegetarian restaurant in the world! In continuous operation since then in Zurich, Haus Hiltl wants more than ever to be the temple of gastronomy happily dispensing with animal flesh.
We can assume that around the world, other temples (Hinduist, Buddhist, Shinto, those) have been concocting strict vegan cuisine for much, much longer, but the fact remains that Haus Hiltl has been able to document its history with the Guinness Book of Records, which certified it. So, 125 years ago, the original restaurant opened its doors under the inviting name of… “Vegetarian Home and Abstinence Café”!
“It was located outside the city and was separated from it by a small forest,” relates the spokesperson for the establishment, Milo Stegmann. Today, it looks like it was an area inhabited by an alternative population. »
The people of Zurich at the time called it the “roots bunker”. “The curious came to eat there, but several, who did not want to be seen there, it would have embarrassed them, went through the back door! » he continues. Since then, the small forest in question has disappeared, and the city center has returned to the restaurant’s original location, on Sihlstrasse, a few steps from Bahnhofstrasse, one of the most expensive streets in Europe.
Necessity, mother of invention
But finally, how could this restaurant for herbivores see the light of day in a city where the local dish par excellence has for many moons been sliced veal in creamy mushroom sauce, the famous Zürcher Geschnetzeltes ? Hiltl family history tells that the ancestor Ambrosius, a young tailor, learned from his doctor that he suffered from rheumatism and that if he wanted to get better he would have to completely eliminate meat from his diet. He then began to frequent the Foyer and discovered a “pseudo Sunday roast” so tasty that he decided to take over the management of the establishment, married the cook, Martha Gneupel, then bought the restaurant on Sihlstrasse for a few years later, in 1907. Today, a member of the fourth generation of the Hiltl family, Rolf, manages the company founded by this pioneering couple.
In the 1930s, Haus Hiltl became the first restaurant in town whose kitchen had electricity, but vegetarians were not better regarded. “He who does not eat meat is not a real man remains the dominant opinion,” emphasizes Mr. Stegmann.
In the 1950s, the menu was enriched with the flavors and textures of Indian dishes in the wake of Margrith Hiltl’s participation in the World Vegetarian Congress, which took place in Delhi. “Finding turmeric and cardamom in Zurich should not have been easy! » notes the spokesperson.
Chic, veggie delights!
According to Mr. Stegmann, the rise of vegetarianism in Switzerland dates back to the 1990s: “The tipping point was the mad cow scandal and the crisis that followed. People were lining up outside our restaurant. »
Since then, they have realized that you can eat healthily and be foodie ! Rolf Hiltl authorized the consumption of alcohol, a first, in his restaurants, and inaugurated a vegan and vegetarian “butcher” where you can stock up on paneer (buffalo milk cheese, common in India), in soy sausages and other tempehs.
Today, the menu at Haus Hiltl is 80% vegan and 20% lacto-ovo-vegetarian, and is aimed at everyone. “We have a food sustainability perspective, but we don’t want to tell people what to eat. They come to us because it’s good! » says Mr. Stegmann before adding that 5% of the Swiss population is vegetarian and 1% vegan.
Able to accommodate approximately 500 guests simultaneously, the restaurant includes dining rooms with different ambiances with table service and others reserved for buffet customers. The upper floors of the building house a catering service as well as a cooking school where they teach how to make even vegetarian biscuits for Fido. It is also here that a recipe development team develops new ones and creates special menus, including vegan and vegetarian ones, which are intended for economy class passengers of the Swiss airline, since 2009. C This is without counting the six other Hiltl brands in town, including two seasonal ones, on the shores of Lake Zurich.
Emotions and traditions
Every day, no less than 100 hot and cold dishes, vegan and vegetarian specialties drawn mainly from the culinary traditions of India and the rest of Asia, are offered at the buffet of the original restaurant, and around a third of them changes every four to five weeks. To counter food waste, we apply a pricing policy based on the weight of the plate. In addition, “leftover hot dishes are transferred to take-out containers that various social organizations come to collect every day, cold dishes can be served again the next day,” explains Mr. Stegmann.
The current challenge for Haus Hiltl? Given that there have never been so many plant-based food products on the market, it’s not so much about developing tomorrow’s classics as it is about renewing existing recipes.
“Our customers are attached to their favorite dishes, to our classics, like okara-based tartare [un substitut de viande issu de la fabrication du soja] and eggplant. It is also said that to evolve a recipe, change ingredients, and for it to be accepted, it takes around six or seven generations! » recalls Milo Stegmann.
And for good reason, because isn’t eating a matter of emotions and traditions?
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.