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.
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.
After two editions disrupted by the pandemic, the Caves Ouvertes Vaudoises 2022 are finally getting back to their traditional Whitsunday event. On 4-5 June 2022, more than 200 winegrowers are waiting for you over another long weekend that promises to be very colorful throughout the canton. A unique opportunity to taste the latest vintage just out of the cellar and to discover the extraordinary richness of Vaud's vineyards. Thanks to the partnership with Vaud Promotion, the latter will be able to offer a selection of VAUD+ certified local products to their guests if they wish.
Post tenebras lux*!
After the darkness, the light! Saturday, 21 May 2022, is the return of the Open Cellar Day in the Geneva countryside where more than 70 wineries invite you to discover their wines in a warm and convivial way!
Quality on the agenda
Geneva, the third largest wine-producing canton in Switzerland, enjoys a special situation with its three specific regions:
- Le Mandement,
- The regions between "Arve and Rhône" (Lully, Bernex, Soral, etc.)
- The regions between "Arve and Lake" (Jussy, Anières, Gy, etc.)
On Saturday, 21 May 2022, more than seventy wineries of the canton will welcome the population in order to present the astonishing 2021 vintage and the vintages aged in barrels of the excellent 2020. This day of discoveries will also be an opportunity to take a magnificent walk in the Geneva countryside, to pass from village to village and to discover these three regions, each of which has its own character.
When we found out about this amazing entrepreneurial develpment for migrants and refugees, we needed to know more and have caught up with Hélène Bayeux, Executive Director IFPD (Fondation Internationale pour la Population et le Développement), to hear how it all started.
She explains: As the Director of the IFPD foundation that focuses on social entrepreneurship and micro-business for the most vulnerable abroad, it appeared important to me to also reveal the talents of migrants and refugees in Switzerland and create the conditions of success of their businesses. In partnership with the local institutions (EVAM, Hospice General) that support migrants in Lausanne and Geneva, we have launched Alter Start to help those in precarious situations. We empower our project holders to use their competencies developed in their home countries to establish a microenterprise to reduce their dependence on social aid.
Within the first two years, we recognized that 40% of our project holders were motivated to create a micro-business linked to the food industry yet they faced several obstacles including access to a professional kitchen and training by a professional chef. We launched the catering Alter Star Food to support the practical and professionalization of their activities as a springboard and platform reuniting these projects with access to clients, administration support, and most importantly, training and supervision by a professional chef Jerome Binder, in a professional kitchen.
Have you been working on this idea forever, or was it something that came to you recently?
The idea was floating around for a while and made itself apparent during the 30th celebration of the IFPD foundation at the Le Rosey. For that event, we engaged the chef who worked with our project holders, and they all worked together as a team serving a cocktail dînatoire. The team spirit, the mix of flavours, and the positive feedback from the 400+ guests convinced us that this is the direction we need to go.
