Swiss folk culture includes yodelling, playing the alp horn and Swiss wrestling. We suggest you don't indulge in any of these after a night in a Swiss tavern. Switzerland is a linguistic melting pot with three official federal languages. Derived from Latin, it's a linguistic relic which has survived in the isolation of mountain valleys. Switzerland hasn't got a great indigenous gastronomic tradition - instead, Swiss dishes borrow from the best of German and French cuisine.
Cheeses form an important part of the Swiss diet.
Emmentaler and Gruyere are combined with white wine to create fondue, which is served up in a vast pot and eaten with bread cubes. Fresh fish from the numerous lakes frequently crop up on menus, especially perch and trout. Swiss chocolate, excellent by itself, is often used in desserts and cakes. The first inhabitants of the region were a Celtic tribe, the Helvetia. The Romans appeared on the scene in 107 BC by way of the St Bernard Pass, but owing to the difficulty of the terrain their attempted conquest of the area was never decisive.