Migros helps

The income of professional fishermen was progressively decreasing because housewives preferred to buy inexpensive tinned tuna and frozen fish fillets. In an effort to support the fishermen, Migros incorporated Swiss fish into its product range in 1951 and promoted it in the Brückenbauer.

“In a time of ready-to-cook chicken and packed beef”, the gutting and scaling of fish is an activity in which Mr. and Mrs. Swiss take little pleasure, says the Brückenbauer regretfully in 1958. The newspaper praises this “protein and vitamin-rich foodstuff” as Migros is supporting the professional fishermen on Lake Neuchâtel who have founded two cooperatives: the fishermen from the canton Vaud shores, the Fischerei-Verein Yvonaud, and those from the west shore, the Fischereigenossenschaft Auvernier. With the help of these organisations, the fishermen fight against the trend of the Swiss housewife to increasingly choose tinned tuna and frozen fish fillets instead of the fresh, indigenous catch.
Although Migros imports and sells these products, it also buys whitefish from the professional fishermen either smoked or, during the fishing season, fresh at a “good minimum price”. As “a bridge-builder in favour of the native professional fishermen”, the Migros Cooperative Neuchâtel, following the British example, even converts a VW bus into a fish sales van. This fish van serves 70 stops from Neuchâtel up to Val de Travers.
The Brückenbauer campaigns untiringly for this indigenous ‘delicacy’ and recommends for an evening meal, “tea complete with whitefish”. And the results pay off. In 1958 alone, Migros sells 25 tonnes of smoked fish. It has enjoyed “a glittering reception, although it is always said that the Swiss are not a nation of fish-eaters and cannot be encouraged to eat fish”.