Olivier Poels 5:40 p.m., February 04, 2022

Inseparable from winter sports, cheese fondue is a mountain dish par excellence.

Its exact origin is lost in the mists of time and must be as old as cheese!


We find, in ancient Greece, recipes for melted goat's cheese, with wine and flour, but the first written mention appears in 1699, in a small manuscript published in Zurich and entitled "To cook cheese with wine ".

The recipe is close to that of today and presented as being of Swiss origin.

The peasants of the Friborg Alps then melt the leftover cheese and the crusts before dipping pieces of bread into it.

In the 18th century, Brillat Savarin evoked this fondue in his "Physiology of taste".

He also recounts a meal he prepared for friends: “after kidneys and foie gras with truffles, he served a cheese fondue”.

He then mentions a recipe based on Gruyère, egg and butter.

The wine does not seem to make a comeback until the beginning of the 20th century.


In 1940, during the Universal Exhibition in New York, the Swiss presented this fondue and a fondue pot on their pavilion.

It is a total success and this dish will know a world notoriety that the development of winter sports a little later will increase even more.

The different types of fondue:


Fribourgeoise: Vacherin


Vaudoise: Gruyère


Neuchâtelloise: Gruyère / Emmental


Jurassienne: Comté

The Fondue Recipe

Ingredients :

  • 600 gr of cheese (Gruyère, Emmental, Vacherin, Comté, etc.) - 1 glass of dry white wine

  • 1 tbsp cornstarch

  •  1 clove of garlic

  • Pepper

  • Nutmeg

  • 5 cl of kirch Rub the caquelon with the clove of garlic

  • pour the wine and heat 

  • add cheese and cornstarch

  • mix well

  • pepper and add the kirch