Cervelat sausage filled with meat and pork brains." Modern recipes do not include brains, and arose towards the end of the 19th century in Basel, as a reworking of the traditional recipe. The taste of the sausages depends on the region, but generally they are similar to that of a frankfurter, but with a smokier flavour and a texture brought about by its fat shape and the tightly wrapped natural casing. Various European semi-dry cervelat are similar to summer sausage in the U.S., and Thuringian sausage can be considered a type of cervelat. In Switzerland, cervelats are cooked (slightly smoked and
History of the Jews in Switzerland History of the Jews in Switzerland History of the Jews in Switzerland reaches back at least a thousand years. Jews and Judaism have been present in the territory of what is now Switzerland since before the emergence of the medieval Old Swiss Confederacy in the 15th century. Switzerland has Europe's tenth-largest Jewish community, with about 20,000 Jews, roughly 0.4% of the population. About one-third of the Jewish community lives in the Zürich metropolitan area. As of 2009, there were 38 synagogues in the country. The first World Zionist Congress of 1897 was held in Basel, and took place ten times