A request for help from those who like to cook: How does one purchase cumin seeds here?

I bought something labeled "cumin" at Migros, and upon opening it, it's caraway seeds - blech. wordreference.com translates both cumin and caraway to "cumin."

Any suggestions? I did successfully purchase powdered cumin in a little "foreign food" shop in downtown Lausanne, but it would be nice to be able to actually purchase my spices at the grocery store (what a concept - though I am generally embarrassed to be an American, I will say the spices available in the grocery stores here are pathetic compared with the US). And any other bait-and-switch spice labelings that I should be on the lookout for?

Hi, the best place to buy cumin seeds would be an Asian shop (Thai, Sri Lankan, Indian). Dont know if you have any of these where you live though...

I cannot say in Vaud but here in Zurich the Asian shops sell an extensive range of spices, all very much cheaper than those sold in Migros or Coop stores.I buy my fennel in a rather large packed for four chf! I am positive they sell cumin too.

The people who work in my local store are really helpful at telling you what things are but usually they have a label in German attached somewhere to the packet.

Hope this helps,
Gal xx

I buy spices from an Indian store in Bern for this reason. They actually have spices with flavour.

Tremendous - thanks everyone. I'll ask the students at EPFL to point me to the best shop.

Kümmel is caraway and Kreuzkümmel is cumin. Happy cooking!

If you are living in Zürich you should also try the St Annahof. They have an impressive collection of unorthodox spices.

Or Asian and Indian shops. A fraction the cost too.