"national cheese fondue day" news and stories

Happy National Cheese Fondue Day!

Taken from the French word "fondre" (to melt), cheese fondue is a traditional Swiss dish utilizing Emmental and Gruyere cheese cooked in a pot with kirsch, white wine and seasonings until melted and creamy. The pot typically serves as the dinner table's centerpiece, with guests provided with elongated fondue forks to dip a variety of bites into the cheese, ranging from French bread to apple slices, pictured at left.

While being served at white-tablecloth restaurants certainly has its charm, there's also a certain satisfaction to be taken from the personal interaction with one's meal that fondue affords. Gushes blogger Simmer Till Done of her dish pictured at left, "I love that it's a one-pot meal, and prying open Sterno, and piling tart apples in bowls and drinking wine while I stir in the wine. I like forks flying, diving, and tangling under cheese." So gather some friends and forks, and make a night of her nutmeg-tinged cheese fondue.

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I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever had a cheese fondue, or a fondue of any sort, actually. It was big in the 70s and then seemed to vanish for several years, and now it's rather cool again. Can shag carpeting and Dorothy Hamill haircuts be far behind?

Actually, it has always seemed like a cool thing to me, but I've just never been in a situation where someone had fondue. But I can change all that starting today. It's National Cheese Fondue Day! Here are some recipes from AllRecipes, and here's some background on fondue in general.