Polydish city guide
Best Fondue in San Francisco
“Melted cheese and wine served in a communal pot, eaten by dipping bread on long-stemmed forks over a candle flame.”
What the real thing tastes like
Fondue (UK: FON-dew, US: fon-DEW, French: [fɔ̃dy], Swiss Standard German: [fɔ̃ːˈdyː] ; Italian: fonduta) is a Swiss dish of melted cheese and wine served in a communal pot (caquelon or fondue pot) over a portable stove (réchaud) heated with a candle or spirit lamp, and eaten by dipping bread and sometimes vegetables or other foods into the cheese using long-stemmed forks. As a way to increase cheese consumption, it was promoted as a Swiss national dish by the Swiss Cheese Union (Schweizerische Käseunion) in the 1930s. Since the 1950s, the term "fondue" has been generalized to other dishes in which a food is dipped into a communal pot of liquid kept hot in a fondue pot.
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Fondue is a Swiss ritual of melted cheese and wine, brought to the table in its own small pot, kept bubbling over a candle flame. You tear bread into pieces and spear them on long forks, dipping into the communal pot—a meal designed for sharing, born in the 1930s when Swiss cheesemakers needed to move more cheese. Since then, the principle has expanded: fondue is now any food worth dunking into a pot of hot liquid, passed hand to hand.
Order it here when it has
- designed for sharing
- keeps food hot throughout the meal
- adaptable format (expanded beyond cheese)
- portable and practical
Walk away when you see
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