Food is one of my love languages. I often tell my kids, “I love you more than chocolate and cheese.” My daughter shortened this to, “I love you more than fondue!” and she’s not wrong. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, we decided to celebrate Switzerland for World Geography Wednesday with its national dish: fondue!

“Fondue” comes from the French word “fonder”, which means to melt. It was invented out of necessity when people living in the Swiss Alps had to rely on cheese, wine, and bread to get them through winter. As the bread became stale, the alpine locals would melt cheese with wine and dip the dry bread into it.

The first time I visited Switzerland, I was fortunate enough to meet some English-speaking alpine hikers in the town Interlaken. They were one person short of a planned hike along the Jungfrau Mountain Range and invited me to join them. I had zero hiking experience, but I was young, optimistic, and healthy (so, basically invincible) plus I had proper hiking boots and a backpack. Naturally, I said, “Yes!”

“Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.” – Le Corbusier, born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret

famous Swiss-French architect

To kick off World Geography Wednesday, we watched the 2005 release of Heidi. It had the most breathtaking Swiss scenery imaginable. Fair warning: Younger children might think it’s boring or sad, but my kids really enjoyed it.

Then we pulled out our maps of Western Europe, Switzerland, and the capital city Bern. I dug out my photo album from my time in Interlaken and showed my kids how much cooler I was back when I was twenty.

Let’s start with watches. Want to know why the Swiss are typically excellent at designing impeccable timepieces? It’s because their country’s infrastructure is perfectly punctual, so their watches had better be accurate! For kicks, we’d clock what time the trains would roll in and compare it to their stated arrival time. They were always exactly on time.

Speaking of sharp, the Swiss company Victorinox is world-famous for making pocketknives. You might even have one of these multi-purpose tools complete with mini scissors, tweezers, and a wine bottle opener. Lord knows I used the heck out of mine backpacking across Europe. American soldiers in WWII called them “Swiss Army knives” because they couldn’t pronounce “Offiziersmesser”.

Enough research; it’s time to eat!

Traditionally, fondue is prepared in a flameproof casserole dish called a caquelon. I don’t have one, so I just used my regular heavy-bottom pots.

It’s also usually prepared over an open flame, then moved to the table and served over a candle or alcohol burner. Since this was a school night, we multitasked with my double-burner and ate the cheese and meat fondues at the same time. While our meats were cooking, we ate the cheese; we just went back and forth.

Drinks and Nibbles

Cheese Course

Ah, cheese! For the cheese course, you can use any dipper you like: fruit, vegetables, breads…anything. The veggies can be raw, blanched (steamed for a few minutes to soften them), or roasted for added depth of flavor. Just put everything on a serving platter, then allow your kids to pick what they want and put it on their plate. That way, you can see how much they’re eating so they don’t get overstuffed. (Remember, you want to save room for the chocolate course!)

My kids have big appetites, so I encouraged them to try two bites of everything, then go back for their favorites. Everyone’s favorite ended up being the underripe pear, which normally they don’t even like. So be adventurous, and have fun!

The cheese you choose varies from region to region: fondue Neuchatel uses Gruyére and Emmental; fondue Vandois adds a lot of garlic; while fondue Fribourg is prepared with ripe Vacherin cheese. My family loves a young, creamy Gouda (we lived in Holland for three years), so I added that to Emmental and Gruyére.

Just remember to add a few tablespoons of cornstarch to your shredded cheese to help it combine smoothly. Also pour in about a cup of white wine or milk so it’s not too thick. And don’t omit the nutmeg! Trust me on this one.

Main Course

The meat course is unique in that you’re cooking raw meat in broth at the table. I portioned out the meats according to what my kids can eat, then put the pieces into individual bowls to avoid cross-contamination (where they touch the raw meat with their eating fork). For younger kids, I might just grill all the meat pieces and let them dip it in the broth to heat it back up.

For the broth, I cooked it on the stove a few hours earlier, then let the herbs, onions, and other aromatic veggies steep. Right before we started eating, I strained the herbs and veggies out and heated the broth back up at the table.

To cook the meat, you need to turn the broth on high for a rolling boil. The meat should be cut thin enough to cook quickly: half a domino-size for beef, pork, or chicken; a small cube for fish. We used the two-minute hourglass timer my kids use to brush their teeth. It worked so well!

My meat fondue recipe is below, if you’re interested.

The real hero here is the dipping sauce! You can buy individual salad dressing cups in your grocery store deli (honey mustard, blue cheese, etc.) or use whatever you have in your pantry. We used a mild Thai sweet chili sauce, a tangy curry mayo, and a red wine and onion gravy (I got a little fancy and made that one). Our favorite combo was the salmon with sweet chili sauce and the lobster with curry mayo.

Dessert

What’s fondue without a chocolate course? I see dessert recipes for fruit fondues, like apricot or applesauce, but in my family, we’re all about chocolate! The trick is to add enough cream or milk that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. You can use a bain-marie (double boiler) so it doesn’t scorch, but I just kept the heat on low and stirred it often. It wasn’t hard.

Enjoy! And Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Meat Fondue

INGREDIENTS:

6-8 cups beef broth or chicken stock

1 cup of red wine

1 cup of sliced mushrooms

1 handful of fresh rosemary (or 1 TBSP dried)

1 TBSP thyme

minced garlic

diced onion or shallot

1/3 pound of meat* per person (*shrimp, steak, and salmon are our favorites)

TOOLS:

large measuring cup

knife

cutting board

heavy-bottom pot, or fondue pot

slotted spoon

fondue forks

PROCESS:

Cut your meat into small bite-sized pieces, similar to half of a domino. Divide the raw meat into individual bowls for each person. Make sure the raw meat doesn’t come into contact with their other food.

Put the broth, wine, mushrooms, garlic, onion, and herbs into a pot and turn the heat on High. When it starts to boil, stab a piece of meat onto your skewer, put it in the pot, and cook it for about 2-minutes for each piece. If you’re cooking chicken or pork, let it cook for 3-4 minutes. When the time is up, remove the skewer and put the cooked meat on a clean plate to let it cool for a few minutes. (If your meat falls off the skewer into the broth, fish it out with a slotted spoon.) You can dip the cooked meats into honey mustard, blue cheese dressing, peanut satay sauce…the sky is the limit!

I hope you enjoyed this article on teaching kids about Switzerland! Follow me here, or at my YouTube Channel “WORLD GEOGRAPHY WEDNESDAY”, for more kid-friendly geography ideas.