Make dinner tonight a Fondue Feast for the whole family! Start with melted cheese served with apples slices, crispy bread cubes and celery and conclude with molten chocolate along side strawberries, brownie bits and cookies. In between, serve a traditional meal or go all the way with cook-your-own meats, poultry and veggies and cooking oils.
What kid, big or small, doesn’t love to dip food into sauces, dressings or creams? Fondue presents an opportunity to dip EVERYTHING without the sideways glances or comments you might get otherwise. Personally, I do not care for the “upscale” fondue restaurants. The high prices they typically charge must be for the experience of fondue itself. It is certainly not for the cooking – since you are doing all of that yourself! Recreate the fun of fondue in your own home, on any night of the week – at a fraction of the cost of those pseudo-fancy establishments.
The most common fondue menu items include cheese and chocolate, along with all the yummy accoutrements. It is no coincidence that cheese and chocolate are the most popular foods to dip – they melt up easily, go with numerous other hard foods, like pretzels, bread and fruit, and simply taste wonderful when warmed. Your kids, especially the young ones, are going to have a blast dipping everything in these warm sauces. You may want to lay down a tablecloth for this meal, if you do not normally use one, as fondue has the habit of being a bit messy – with all the drippings and such falling from your crusty bread and juicy strawberries.
You can also talk to your kids about the days when fondue, along with ABBA, ruled the world – that brief, hazy period in the mid-1970s! In fact, make your fondue dinner into an episode of “I Love the 70s” with some disco music (or Dylan and The Band, if you, like me, lean towards that “sound of the 70’s”), polyester clothes with wide lapels and big hairdos. Break out some of your old family photos from that time period – maybe there is one showing the family having fondue – and share those distant memories with your children. Use the food and music of the era to have fun with your own pasts.
Navigate the links below and discover some great recipe ideas for your next (or first) fondue.
Anyone who has tried fondue is sure to have a story or two to tell about their fun experience! Share your own fondue family memories here.
Chocolate and Chocolate Peanut Butter Fondue