Even if fondue is a Swiss national culture and food dish–it is not on my list of favourites. When I first moved here, a friend had us over for raclette (on a sunny, fall, Sunday afternoon–so it we took our time). It was a 7-hour raclette party. 7-hours!
My husband mistakenly took me for fondue the next day. I could not possibly eat any more cheese! And, subsequently, it took many years before I could have raclette OR fondue more than once a year.
Also, with fondue, there is the whole sharing-the-main-pot-with-people-you-do-not-normally-share-bodily-fluids-with. Nope. Fondue is definitely not up there on my favourite food list.
So, I loved discovering this podcast about the Swiss cheese cartel and a conspiracy to make these cheese dishes a national pastime.
Go on. Find 15 minutes to have a listen. Discover how fondue wasn’t an accident. It was planned by a cartel of Swiss cheese makers, who ruled the Swiss economy for 80 years. Not intentionally, of course. Well-meaning, well-intentioned, folks decided not to compete in order to keep the Swiss economy alive after WWI and WWII.
Now, I have to go find some of that rebel cheesemaker’s cheese.
Boss Beer in Bossonnens