Appenzell Innerrhoden (also known in English as Appenzell Inner Rhodes) is a half canton in Switzerland. I won’t go into history here, but Switzerland consists of 26 cantons of which six are half cantons (they are divided mostly for historical and religious reasons). Half cantons have their own state governments but they share federal representation.

Innerrhoden is a very traditional, rural canton with its own folk art and music. Since I grew up only about half an hour from this region, I make it a point to visit Appenzell whenever I am back home in Switzerland. One time, I made a museum tour and happened to run into one of the most famous folk painters in Appenzell, Willi Keller. The 65-year-old artist custom-paints traditional subjects related to the region’s farm traditions. A picture may depict the yearly move of cattle from the valley farms to the Alpine meadows where they would stay until fall. During the day-long journey, cattle and folks are dressed up – the animals wearing nice bells around their necks, the famers in their traditional Sunday frocks. Until well into the 20

th

century this type of painting was reserved for farmers. To this day, Appenzell’s farmers carefully critique a painting according to the accurate portrayal of traditions.

The name Appenzell has been increasingly visible in North America because chain food stores started to carry Appenzeller cheese. I went to one of the few farms permitted to produce this spicy hard cheese. Only the cantons of Appenzell (Inner Rhodes and Outer Rhodes) and parts of St. Gall and Thurgau are allowed to produce and sell original Appenzeller cheese, which is trademarked. A handful of people know the secret ingredients to the spicy recipe.

At one of my last visits I learned that cows whose milk is used for the Appenzeller cheese production are only fed with air-dried hay and fresh meadow grass, never with silage fodder. Farms who receive special approval to deliver their milk to one of the cheese dairies are undergoing constant quality controls. Every time a farmer delivers his milk to a dairy, it is sampled and if something is wrong with a cheese (even six months down the road when the cheese is ripe), the faulty cheese can be traced back exactly to the milk it was made from.

Travelers who happen to be in Switzerland on the last weekend of April should stop over in Appenzell, the capital city of Innerrhoden. There they will witness the country’s most traditional show of direct democracy. In front of the Hotel Säntis, citizens of Appenzell will gather and will cast their votes on different state issues with a showing of hands. Be prepared for folk entertainment, traditional costumes, dances and much fun.