Tuesday Treasure – Figugegl Fondue

Love warm, melty cheese, but you’re hungering for something classier than a grilled cheese sandwich? Get yourself a vintage fondue pot! Due to the huge surge in popularity that fondue enjoyed in 1960s America, enamel, copper or brass fondue pots are one of our more frequent offerings – we may even have one or two at our downtown Corvallis location right now.

Fondue is a communal meal designed for get-togethers, not single eaters. Diners gather around a pot (caquelon) that is kept warm on a stand (réchaud) over a small burner, spearing cubed French bread, cooked potato chunks or fresh vegetables on long, sharp forks, dipping them in a rich melted cheese and wine sauce and then snarfing them up. Yummy! Although fondue is not the fad now that it was in the 60s and 70s, it does make a simple, filling dinner that naturally encourages leisurely conversation. The mid-century designs on this white enamel pot suggest what you might expect at a fondue dinner. And in this packaged gift set by Viking everything is color-coded to help keep diners from mixing up whose fork is whose, if left sitting in the pot. Often the forks that came with the pots were coded with different colors or designs.

Fondue originated in Switzerland, a country known for its cheese, especially the hole-riddled Swiss Cheese. The country produces over 475 types of cow’s milk cheese as well as a few sheep and goat milk varieties. Switzerland exports 40% of its cheese, so cheese is important to the economy. Switzerland is multi-lingual, with around 60% speaking German, 20% French, 8% Italian and 0.5% Romansh. The word fondue comes from the French verb fondre ‘to melt’ so it is easy to trace the cheesy dinner to the western lowlands, Switzerland’s French-speaking region.

Of course melted cheese had been eaten for centuries, so by the time the first official fondue recipe was published in 1875, it was already regarded as a national dish and a sophisticated luxury at that, since most ‘peasants’ could not afford large quantities of expensive cheeses.

In the 1930s fondue was promoted throughout Switzerland by the Swiss Cheese Union (naturally). Following the interruption of WWII, the Schweizerische Käseunion stepped up their game in the late 40s by sending fondue sets out to military units and event organizers. In the 1980s their campaign touted in French “La fondue crée la bonne humeur” ‘fondue creates a good mood’ and in German “Fondue isch guet und git e gueti Luune” ‘fondue is good and creates a good mood’, which was then abbreviated to just “figugegl”. Today refrigerated fondue blends as well as individual microwavable fondue portions are sold in Swiss supermarkets. 

In 1964 the Swiss Cheese Union introduced fondue to Americans at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and fondue parties became popular. The first Melting Pot (a fondue-themed restaurant) opened in 1975 in Maitland, Florida, then in Tallahassee in 1979, then Tampa in 1981, becoming a franchise chain in 1985. There’s been a Melting Pot in Portland, OR, since 1989.

Want to try making fondue? Light up the little burner (most use liquid methanol or alcohol) and bring 1 cup dry white wine to a simmer in the pot. Whisk in 2 tablespoons flour or cornstarch and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg. Then, one handful at a time, slowly stir in ½ pound EACH grated Swiss and Gruyère cheese until it melts. Add a dash of salt. Get out your long stabby forks and dip in cubes of crusty French bread, cooked potato chunks or cut up vegetables. Ahh… figugegl!