Röstigraben


Röstigraben is a humorous term used to refer to the cultural boundary between German-speaking and French-speaking parts of Switzerland. There is also a term Polentagraben which refers to the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino.
The term first appeared during World War I, when neutral Switzerland stood between the warring German Empire and the French Republic.

Etymology

The first part of the term is derived from the Swiss German name for hashed potatoes, rösti, which originated in the canton of Bern and is considered typical of Swiss German cuisine.
Graben has both the concrete and abstract meaning of "rift", with the Saane/Sarine river valley in the bilingual canton of Fribourg separating the linguistic areas. The Swiss-French use a similar expression: barrière de rösti, literally "rösti barrier", or rideau de rösti "rösti :fr:Rideau de fer|curtain". Just like Röstigraben it has become a familiar facetious expression used whenever differences arise, e.g. the different voting results.

Definition

Geographically the line stretches from the Jura Mountains in the north along Lake Biel, Lake Neuchâtel and Lake Morat through the Swiss plateau, then crosses the Swiss Alps and the Rhone valley, separating Lower and Upper Valais, and finally reaches the Italian border between the municipalities of Evolène and Zermatt. Folklorists lay emphasis on the importance of the parallel Brünig-Napf-Reuss line further in the east, separating the historic Alemannic and Burgundian spheres of influence.
In recent years, however, the differences in politics seem to be weakening as the urban areas of German-speaking Switzerland vote similarly to French-speaking Western Switzerland, predominantly in Northwestern Switzerland.
By analogy, the term Polentagraben is used to refer to cultural and political differences between Italian-speaking Ticino and German-speaking Switzerland. The canton of Ticino is seen as strongly supportive of traditional social values, largely because of its cultural and geographical isolation from the rest of the country. Concerning affairs of foreign policy, the Swiss Italian-speaking population usually votes along with the German Switzerland citizens.