On birthdays, grandchildren
It really wasn't necessary to make such a
fuss. After all, I'm only going to be seventy-five!
A swish restaurant with luxurious white tablecloths. And even fresh flowers! But unfortunately the wrong ones: lilies. Past their best and not very special. But my wife's son has recently become allergic to roses. Her name is Hermine and she's already coughing nervously into her handkerchief on my left. She seems to be a bit allergic to everything. Mostly her husband, at the moment. He is sitting on my right and is a real tribute to his blessed father: broad shoulders but still spineless. Oh my son, where did I go wrong!
Nevertheless, Max has given me two grandchildren. Jan studies Social Media and in real-life is about as sociable and entertaining as Ueli, my hard-of-hearing partner at cards. He prefers to immerse himself in his mobile phone and entertain
the whole world rather than the birthday child. Zoë is quite different. She jabbers on and on and on and is always agitated about something: climate change, fish quotas, insects dying out, plastic in the sea and dust in the air, food waste and everything you can think of. With the weight of the world on her shoulders, she certainly won't live to be ninety, poor girl!
Luckily, the first course arrives now and saves us from plunging deeper into Zoë’s grim world. – "Where danger is, deliverance also beckons," wrote the poet Hölderlin and indeed it approaches, in the form of my absolute favourite starter:
Minestrone. Or should I say "Minest-no-ne"
No pasta with gluten for Hermine, no animal ingredients for Zoë (a committed vegan since the day before yesterday) and no special requests at all for Jan and me. In any case, all Jan thinks about when it comes to food is photographing it. Bon appetit, everyone!
Smiling to myself, I sip my soup and watch Zoë saving the world with a bowl of soup and Jan turning his bowl of soup into content for the online community: #sunstarsupersoup. Meanwhile, Max silently and sullenly slurps down his soup until Hermine hisses: "Max, cholesterol!". And from then on, the little cubes of bacon are deposited on the edge of the plate. Ah, my poor little Max! He consoles himself with a big gulp of Barbera d’Asti. And promptly has to sneeze. Then again. And again. "Bless you!" "That's definitely histamine intolerance," remarks Zoë, who has finished eating and is now holding forth on the topics of electrosmog, mobile phone radiation, data mining and allergens.
Suddenly Hermine gets a terrible itch on her forearm. No, it's not from radiation, it's from the tablecloth, absolutely definitely, says Hermine. The young head waiter assures her that all the table and bed linen is washed in the laundry using special, skin-compatible products. And always has been. Zoë sees her chance and wonders whether she can ask a question. Yes, of course! About food waste. Well, obviously! The good-looking head waiter doesn't bat an eyelid and gives an impromptu summary of the latest Sunstar Food Waste Survey. When he goes on to explain that, in any case, Sunstar Hotels has been a member of "United Against Waste" for years and that this particular hotel can now be found on the "Too Good To Go" app, Zoë has found a new hero. With him, she'll be able to save the world, if not the whole universe!
You know, when I was young you always had to eat everything on your plate.
Sometimes the reason given was that other people did not have as much to eat as us. Any leftovers were kept and eaten later. Then, at some point, no-one cared about all that any more. And nowadays it's really important to everyone again. And we have to eat everything on the plate, just as we used to do. Everything goes full circle! And now I must get back to my story, because here comes the main course. You ought to see it, it's a dream: mashed potato with braised beef and lots of gravy!
It will take more than free-range eggs
We are all - you the guests and we at the hotel - much more environmentally aware nowadays. With about 300,000 overnight stays in our hotels every year, we also bear a heavy burden of responsibility. We know that and we act accordingly. Not least because we also know that that's what our guests want.
All our hotels in Switzerland have been climate-neutral for ten years now. In our purchasing, we attach great importance to using local ingredients that are produced with respect for animal welfare, species diversity and social responsibility. None of our meat comes from animals that have been treated with hormones or antibiotics. Our pork, veal and chicken come from Switzerland and, in addition to Swiss beef, we also use fully tested meat from Ireland and
Uruguay. For coffee, bananas and orange juice, we rely on Max Havelaar certified fair trade produce. Sunstar Hotels has been
a member of the "United Against Waste" organisation since 2015 and, as of 2019, it is on the "Too good to go" app. And, naturally, all our eggs and egg products come from happy free-range Swiss hens.