In 1731, the Swiss cloister Disentis purchased a “torculum pro formadis maccaronibus” (a thread press machine), a screw press to make hollow macaroni noodles.
In 1836, a cookbook from Bern published a recipe for ‘Maccaroni’ that called for Parmesan or Swiss Emmental cheese and oven-baking.
In 1838, the first Swiss pasta factory was established in Lucerne by Kaspar and Balthasar Ronca brothers. They used water power for manufacturing pasta.
The founding era of the Swiss pasta industry is considered to be the period from 1838 to 1860. Several pasta factories in German-speaking and Western Switzerland were established during this time. The world’s first commercial production of macaroni was in Switzerland in 1872. Pasta accelerating in popularity to the central Alps during the construction of the Gotthard tunnel, which started in 1872 as a lot of Italian workers came to Switzerland.
In 1920, Switzerland had 78 pasta factories. The limited transport means at the time fostered the number of local manufacturers. With the expansion of the railway and road network, however, local production became less and less important and the import of pasta grew in importance.
In the 1930s Älplermagronen was invented. Älplermagronen is a rustic Swiss dish that can be translated as Alpine macaroni, but it is more commonly known as herdsman’s macaroni. The basic version is prepared by layering cooked pasta and potatoes with cheese and cream, and the combination is then baked in the oven and served topped with onion rings, applesauce, and bacon.
The history of Swiss pasta
