Iconic Swiss Dish on Top 100
There are two Foods I think of when I think about Switzerland. One, of course, is chocolate, but the other is fondue. No visit to Switzerland would be complete without sampling this iconic Swiss dish. Originally it was created out of necessity by Alpine herders who had only cheese and bread to eat during the long winter months, along with wine. So it’s not a stretch to think about combining all of these elements into one dish. Indeed, the word fondue is French for “melted” and putting cheese and wine into a pot and putting it over the fire results and one thing: melted cheese.
The Swiss do not regularly export their wines but if you did not know, Switzerland is known for some of the finest wines in the world. The addition of wine to cheese adds acidity to the dish as well as helping to liquefy the melted cheese. If you haven’t tried fondue you should. It’s a great opportunity to get together with family or friends and dip into the communal vessel at the same time. It’s also fun to create your own meal on-the-fly as it were by dipping bread and other foods into the melted cheese.
While it may have begun simply by dipping bread into the melted cheese mixture, today the Swiss dip any number of foods into fondue, including pickles, miniature onions, potatoes and other vegetables. This humble food has become something quite gourmet.
It’s no wonder that fondue makes the top 100 foods list. And it’s not difficult to produce your own spectacular fondue. You’ll find any number of recipes online including some of the most well-known food websites in many of these have been accompanying videos show you how it’s done.
The only drawback, if you can call it that, is that you may have to invest in some specialized equipment like a fondue pot and skewers as well as the heat source like sterno, but the investment is tiny compared to the enjoyment that you’ll get from creating your own little Swiss gourmet dinner. Of course I’m not even touching upon the other types of fondue like chocolate fondue for cooking meat and vegetables and hot oil in the same fondue pot used for cheese or chocolate.
Swiss food, and fondue especially, is rather specialized despite its worldwide popularity, so for me in Sun Valley, California I need to search out a French or Swiss restaurant if I don’t want to make it myself. For me that’s Petit Trois le Valley which is located at 13705 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423. However it’s so much fun to make and eat fondue that I urge all my readers to give it a try. However, if you just don’t want to go to the effort or don’t want to invest in the fondue pot seek out your local fondue restaurant and enjoy.
