people, so also is its cuisine.

Most of its recipes stem from country dishes, many of them centuries old, and of course each region has its own specialties.

While it's always fun to experience Swiss cooking first hand, Swiss Cooking by Anne Mason (available at the Bermuda Library) comes a close second.

Here's a sampling: FRUIT SOUP This soup, a specialty of the Basle region, is usually served as a first course for dinner, but it can also be served as a dessert.

1 lb. mixed fruit in season 11 pints (30 fluid oz.) water, or half water and half wine 1 rounded teaspoon cornflour sugar to taste butter 1-inch cubes of day-old bread PREPARE a mixture of ripe fruits such as peaches, apricots, cherries and pears, or whatever is available. Leave cherries whole if used, and peel and dice other fruits about the same size.

Cook fruit in water or wine mixture until tender, then sweeten to taste. Blend cornflour with a little water and stir into fruit, cooking for a few minutes and stirring all the time until slightly thickened.

Fry bread cubes in butter until crisp and golden, drain on absorbent paper and sprinkle with castor sugar. Serve fruit soup hot, garnished with bread croutons.

BOMBOLINES These are delicious additions to bouillon or clear soup, either chicken or beef flavoured, and are usually served for special occasions.

1 dessertspoon butter 21 pints (50 fl. oz.) water 1 cup plain flour 2 oz. grated Emmental cheese 2 eggs 4 oz. mortadella sausage salt to taste fat for frying BRING water to boil and add butter. When melted add flour and stir until it resembles a thick paste and leaves the sides of the pan clean. Add eggs and grated cheese and beat well. Chop mortadella into small pieces and add. Have deep fat very hot. Drop small pieces of the paste into the hot fat and fry until puffed and golden. Drain well on absorbent paper.

These can be prepared the day before and added to bouillon at the last minute before serving.

LEEKS NEUCHATELOISE 11 lbs. leeks 1 pint (10 fl. oz.) boiling water salt to taste 2 tablespoons Neuchatel white wine 1 tablespoon flour 1 lb. liver sausage TRIM and wash leeks and cut into 1 -inch slices. Put into boiling, salted water and cook, covered, for 30 minutes. Add liver sausage and simmer 25 to 30 minutes. Remove sausage. Blend flour with wine and stir into leeks, cooking for several minutes. There should not be much liquid left in saucepan before thickening.

This is also served as a main dish, adding the sausage after thickening.

From Page 28 ROSTI or SWISS FRIED POTATOES This typical recipe is served all over Switzerland, sometimes as an accompaniment to meat, or sometimes as a meatless meal. It is certainly not for slimmers! 6 large potatoes 1 cup lard or butter salt and pepper 1 onion, finely chopped (optional) BOIL potatoes in their skins until tender, drain and peel immediately. Cut into thin slices. Heat butter or lard in a large pan, add potatoes (and onion if using), season with salt and pepper, and fry over good heat, turning potatoes at intervals to brown on all sides. Lower heat, press potatoes firmly into the pan and fry very slowly for a few minutes until a golden crust forms underneath. Turn out with the crust uppermost and serve at once.

FISH RISOTTO Any fairly coarse fish can be used for this recipe, which comes from the Lugano district. If fresh fish is not available, canned tuna or salmon can be used with good results.

Approx. 11 lbs. whole fish 1 cup rice 1 large onion 1 clove garlic (optional) 1 tablespoon chopped sweet red pepper (fresh or canned) 1 cup butter or margarine salt and pepper 1 pint (20 oz.) fish stock 1 tablespoon chopped parsley 1 bay leaf RICE should be well washed, drained well and dried in a clean tea towel some time before cooking.

Place cleaned and scaled fish on a rack or large square of butter muslin in a fish boiler or saucepan with bay leaf, salt and enough water to cover well.

Simmer gently 20 to 30 minutes, or until fish is cooked well. Remove from pan and strain stock. Skin fish and flake the flesh, removing any bones. There should be 2 cups of flaked fish.

Chop onion and fry in butter or margarine until soft but without colouring, stirring well. Add rice and cook until transparent. Pour in half the hot fish stock and bring quickly to boil, then continue cooking over low heat until rice is cooked, adding remainder of stock as necessary. Keep stirring at frequent intervals with a fork to prevent rice from sticking to pan. When rice is tender stir in fish, parsley and red pepper, seasoning to taste. Re-heat for a few minutes, then serve at once. Serves 4.

Grated cheese may be served separately with the risotto.

CHEESE FONDUE Fondue is the best known of Swiss dishes, and it has quite a number of variations, depending on what part of the country you are eating it in. That made in Neuchatel is probably the best known. Usually a mixture of Gruyere and Emmental cheese is used, but all Gruyere is quite acceptable.

To make a fondue properly you must have a large, flat-bottomed earthenware dish which stands over a small spirit stove to be brought to the table. The fondue is first cooked on the kitchen stove, then put over the burner to serve at table. Each person should also be equipped with a long-handled fork and a supply of one-inch bread cubes. The idea is that each person dips a piece of bread into the fondue. The best way is to spear the bread, dip it in the pot and quickly swirl it round to catch the drips -- and also to cook it off a little.

For four persons you need: 11 lbs. mixed Gruyere and Emmental cheese 4 wine glasses of Neuchatel white wine 1 teaspoon potato flour or cornflour 1 tablespoon kirsch 2 cloves garlic pinch ground nutmeg pepper to taste RUB inside of fondue dish with a cut clove of garlic. Add wine and warm over low heat. Stir in grated cheese, stirring until cheese has melted and blended with the wine. Add remaining garlic crushed or chopped very small, nutmeg and pepper, and bring to boil. Blend cornflour with kirsch and stir into mixture, stirring all the time. In 3-4 minutes it should have thickened and can be brought to the table to keep hot over spirit lamp. Must be eaten while simmering. Serve with a Neuchatel dry white wine.

CALVES' LIVER IN CREAM SAUCE 1 lb. fresh calves' liver 1 cup flour salt and pepper 1 teaspoon paprika 1 tablespoon chopped chives or parsley 2 tablespoons butter or fat 1 cup dry white wine 1 cup cream POUR hot water over liver and leave for 5 minutes, then drain. Remove tubes and outer skin from liver and cut into narrow slices. Combine flour, salt, pepper and paprika in a paper bag and toss liver strips in flour until well coated. Melt fat in pan and brown liver quickly over fairly good heat, turning to brown both sides. Lift from pan and keep hot. Pour wine into pan, scraping the crust remaining in pan and blend well. Remove from heat and add cream slowly, mix well and heat, but do not allow to boil. Season if necessary, add chives or parsley, then add liver. Re-heat if necessary and serve with buttered noodles or spaetzli.

BACON AND PEAR STEW 1 lb. dried pears 3 pint (15 fl.oz.) hot water 1 lb. smoked bacon 21 lbs. potatoes, sliced thickly salt and pepper 1 cup cream POUR boiling water over pears and leave for some hours or overnight. Cut bacon into cubes and fry in a fair sized pan for 2-3 minutes, then add pears and the water in which they were soaked, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add potatoes, season to taste and continue cooking until potatoes are tender. Add cream and serve.

VEAL AND EGG ROLLS Veal is probably the most popular meat in Switzerland. There are many variations of these veal rolls with different fillings. This version comes from Wildhaus, in the Obertoggenburg Valley.

6 thin veal cutlets 6 hard boiled eggs 1 sliced onion salt and pepper 2 carrots, sliced 1 bay leaf fat flour POUND cutlets fairly thin without breaking. Roll each one around a shelled, cooked egg, season with salt and pepper, and tie firmly with thread. Melt fat in saucepan and brown veal rolls on all sides, then add onion and brown slightly. Add enough water or stock just to cover rolls, add carrot and bay leaf and simmer gently for 35-40 minutes, or until veal is cooked. Remove rolls to a heated serving dish, cut off thread, and keep hot. Strain sauce in pan and thicken with a little blended flour, then pour over rolls. Serve with noodles or spaetzli.

TRIPE, THURGAU STYLE 11 lbs. well-cooked tripe 2 onions, sliced 1 clove of garlic, chopped 1 cup beef stock beef dripping 1 cup dry white wine or cider 1 tablespoon flour 2 tablespoons tomato paste salt and pepper LIGHTLY fry onions and garlic in dripping until golden. Cut well washed tripe in thin strips and fry with onions until lightly browned, turning frequently.

Sprinkle with flour, salt and pepper, and add wine or cider with stock. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Stir in tomato paste and cook for another 15 minutes.

Serve at once. Yield: four servings.

SNAILS BURGERART Enough canned snails and empty shells to serve 6 per person 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs 10 shelled, chopped walnuts 1 cup grated cheese salt and pepper pinch ground nutmeg butter WASH snail shells well in salted boiling water. Rinse and place upside-down to drain. Allow 6 per person.

Blend all above ingredients together with a pestle and mortar (or use the back of a wooden spoon in a thick, shallow bowl), adding butter as necessary to make a good stiff paste. Replace snails in shells and cover with nut mixture.

Place on ovenproof platter with openings upwards and bake for 5-6 minutes in moderate oven, or place under hot griller. Garnish with sprigs of parsley and serve at once.

If you have difficulty in keeping the snail shells in place, crumple a piece of aluminium cooking foil and make small depressions in it to hold the shells as they cook. They can also be served on this.

CARROT AND ALMOND PIE 5 eggs, separated 11 cups sugar juice and grated rind of 1 a lemon 8 oz. peeled and crushed almonds 1 lb. raw carrots, grated 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg 1 cup flour 1 tablespoon kirsch or rum BEAT egg yolks with sugar and grated lemon rind. Add almonds, carrots and lemon juice, then flour and kirsch, blending well. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into carrot mixture, mixing well. Turn into a well buttered pie dish and bake in a moderate oven (350 deg. F) for about 1 hour, or until firm and set. Dust top with remainder of sugar, and serve either hot or cold.

SWISS COOKING -- Ann Mason's latest offering is now available at the Bermuda Library.