National Cheese Fondue Day

The story

This beloved dish involves a communal pot, known as a caquelon, filled with a velvety blend of cheeses, wine, and seasonings. The cheese fondue is kept warm as participants dip bread, meat, crackers, and veggies into it using long-stemmed forks. The roots of cheese fondue stretch back centuries, with the earliest recorded recipe dating to a 1966 book in Zurich, titled ”Kass mit Wein zu kochen.“

This recipe called for grated or cut-up cheese melted with wine and served with bread for dipping. However, it wasn't until 1875 that the term ”Cheese Fondue“ was first used in a published recipe. Before cheese fondue as we know it today, a dish called ”fondue“ existed, resembling more of a scramble, often incorporating eggs and truffles.

But in 1905, a pivotal moment occurred when cornstarch was introduced to Switzerland. This simple thickener transformed the dish, making the cheese fondue smooth and stable, eliminating the continuous separation issue. The holiday has been popularized by The Melting Pot, a North American restaurant chain primarily in the United States.

Various traditions add to the fun, such as enjoying the crispy cheese that forms at the pot's bottom, aptly named ”la religieuse“ (French for ”the nun“), due to its appearance resembling the caps worn by nuns in the Middle Ages.