Betty Bossi is Switzerland's biggest cookbook publisher and can be found in most every household.
Hardly anyone knows her outside the Confederation, but generations of Swiss have grown up with her. Inventor of the fictitious character Betty Bossi is the Zurich advertising specialist Emmi Creola, born as Emmi Maag in 1912.
Taking inspiration from Betty Crocker, Betty Bossi was created by Emmi Creola-Maag for Unilever to help sell margarine to the butter-friendly Swiss. This took form in 1956 as a magazine style leaflet called the Betty Bossi Post, which attempted to answer the eternal question "What Shall I Cook Today?". French on one side and German on the other, the leaflet was so popular that it grew into a full magazine, and then a recipe book.
In 1977 Betty Bossi split from Unilever and it became its own, separate publishing company. The brand continued to expand, publishing countless cookbooks and expanding into TV and radio, as well as recipe development and convenience foods.
Her creature Betty Bossi became the "cook of the nation" and conquered television when no one in neighbouring Germany thought of cooking shows. Many believe that Helvetia's national cuisine would be different without Betty Bossi.
In 2012 the company was purchased outright by the supermarket chain Coop, which had previously taken a 50% stake in 2001. Today Betty Bossi continues to be one of the dominant authorities on Swiss cuisine, especially for the home cook. The shelves of Swiss houses are lined with her cookbooks and Coop, uses her name on everything from orange juice to ravioli.
The "Betty Bossi" newspaper today has a circulation of around 900,000 copies. I have been a loyal reader since 1996!!!
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