Swiss melted cheese in a communal pot — Gruyère and Emmental melted with white wine and Kirsch, kept warm over a flame; bread cubes dipped on long forks, with the legend that dropping your bread means a round of drinks.
Swiss invention
Cheese fondue (fondue au fromage) is the national dish of Switzerland and was declared so by the Swiss Cheese Union. The word comes from French fondre (to melt). The earliest documented recipe appears in a 1699 Zürich manuscript; by the 18th century it was documented as peasant winter food in the cantons of Fribourg and Vaud.
The chemistry
Wine is essential — not just for flavour but for chemistry. The tartaric acid in wine keeps the cheese proteins from clumping (a process called seizing or “broken fondue”). The cornflour added toward the end also acts as a stabiliser. Kirsch, added last, contributes alcohol and flavour without disrupting the emulsion.
The figure-8 stirring rule
Traditional fondue is stirred in a continuous figure-8 pattern rather than circles, to prevent the cheese from sticking to the bottom. Modern caquelon pots have thick earthenware bases designed to distribute heat evenly.
The bread-dropping forfeit
The tradition: if a man drops his bread cube into the pot, he buys the next round of drinks; if a woman drops hers, she kisses the man on her left. The origin of the forfeit is probably a later 20th-century Swiss tourism invention, but it has stuck globally.
Other fondues
Chocolate fondue (dessert, with fruit) and fondue bourguignonne (beef cubes cooked in hot oil) share the equipment and communal format but are distinct dishes with separate origins.
Find more foods by letter
Fondue starts with F and ends with E. Browse other foods along the same letter.
Foods that contain a letter from "Fondue":