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| Fondue History |
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By all accounts, eating the melted-cheese dish of fondue is a Swiss tradition. Numerous references agree that cheese fondue originated high in the Swiss mountains, the product of thrifty Swiss cow herders who spent long hours in the snow-covered pastures with sparse provisions.
Like the American cowboys of the Wild West, the Swiss harders used what they had to sustain them, in this case an abundance of cheese products, loaves of bread and bottles of wine to help ward off the chill. As days passed in the field, no scrap of cheese was spared the caquelon, or earthenware cooking pot, and every hunk of bread was made moist and tasty by dipping it into the molten cheese mixed with wine. The dish mad its way form teh fields onto the tables of the Swiss aristocracy by way of kitchen servants who prepared the simple dish with the nobles finer quality cheeses and wines and served it with thr houses fresh assortment of crusty breads.
No one seems to be able to give an authoritative account of how the original Swiss dish came to be called by a French name. Back online, there were plenty of definitions: the American Heritage Dictionary says the name comes from "the feminine past participle of fondre, to melt; "the Chef Talk Glossary says fondue means literally "to melt" in French.
A trip into virtual Switzerland netted tones of information about the countrys history, culture and geography but no substantial historical documentation on the origin of fondue. However, a few facts about the nation and its neighbors stood out enough to make some logical deductions. So, here it goes.
It is commonly accepted that fondue made its way from humble beginnings in the Swiss hills to the tables of Swiss nobles by way of house servants. The dish, which became a Swiss mainstay, no doubt was served when the nobles entertained visiting nobles from Switzerlands bounding neighbors - Austria and Liechtenstein on the east, Italy on the south, Germany and France on the north, and another section of France on the west. Somewhere along the line, the French, known for their penchant for naming all things culinary, must have coined the phrase in order to describe the dish to their countrymen. The dearth of information on fondue in Virtual Switzerland makes it clear that the Swiss have no interest in naming dishes; they are just into creating great cheese.
France, however, is very much involved in the cuisine scene. In fact, it was the French gastronome Jean Brillat-Savarin who is credited with brining fondue to the world. Escaping the French revolution, Brillat-Savarin spent two years in the United States. To support himself he gave language lessons and played the violin in a New York theater orchastra. His love, however, was gastronomy. He introduced Americans to a cornucopia of epicurean delights including French ice and fondue au fromage. He eventually authored three gastronomic tomes that are still in use today at culinary schools around the world.
Savarins fondue is made with creamy scrambled eggs, butter and a small amount of Gruyere cheese and is actually the predecessor of Americas baked casserole. The Swiss classic that prompted the fondue frenzy of the 1960s and 1970s is fondue de fromage, according to the publishers of Fondue Magic: Fun, Flame and Saucery Around the World. The French de fromage version "differs from the original Swiss recipe in that it uses butter and cream in additon to the basic ingredients, "accourding to Nancy Papke Textor, who authored Viva La Fondue! in 1969.
Several cookbook authors have traced the history of fondue as it made its way onto the American scene. As World War II wound down in the late 1950s, Switzerland "became the playground of the well-heeled fold in avid serach of pleasure and great food. And in the elaborate ski lodges that sprang up all over the snow-capped land, the poverty diet of the mountain dweller became the party fare of the international traveler, " said Anita Pritchard, author of Fondue Magic.
By way of returning soldiers and travelers, Swiss cheese fondue began showing up on menus at many of New Yorks finest restaurants and on tables of the average citizen. Then, in 1956 famed chef Konrad Egli of New Yorks Chalet Swiss restaurant introduced Fondue Bourguignonne, the fondue method of cooking meat cubes in hot oil. Suddenly, cooking cheeses and meats fondue-style - in a communal pot - became the vogue. Its popularity was further boosted by the publicity-driven debut of a chocolate fondue at the Chalet Swiss in 1964.
Throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, fondue remained the focus of friendly get-togethers across the nation. A popular Swiss custom associated with fondue, the forfeit, involves a group of people congregating around a fondue pot and taking turns dipping their bread. "If a woman drops a cube of bread into the fondue, she has to kiss all the men; if a man drops the bread cube, he has to buy a bottle of wine. If the person drops a cube of bread for the second time, he or she must host the next fondue party," according to Hamlyn Press, publishers of The Fondue Cookbook.
Credit: The Melting Pot - Tampa, Florida
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