The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and cheese fondue fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at Cheese Fondue fun facts.

Cheese Fondue Fun Facts: Modern fondue originated in Switzerland and more specifically in the Canton of Neuchatel. The dish consists of at least two varieties of cheeses that are melted with wine and a bit of flour and served communally out of pot called a “caquelon.”

  • Written records of fondue date back to the late 17th century, when a bare bones version of the dish calling for cheese, wine and bread for dipping appeared in a Swiss cookbook. Fondue showed up in print in various other incarnations through the 18th and 19th centuries, the recipes calling for eggs and often construed as something closer to a custard or cheese soufflé than the hot dip that we know it as today.
  • April 11th is National Cheese Fondue Day.
  • November is Fun with Fondue Month.
  • A recipe for a sauce made from Pramnos wine, grated goat’s cheese and white flour appears in Scroll 11 (lines 629-645) of Homer’s Iliad and has been cited as the earliest record of a fondue.
  • Fondue became popular in the U.S. during the mid-1960s after American tourists discovered it in Switzerland.
  • By way of returning soldiers and travelers, Swiss cheese fondue began showing up on menus at many of New York’s finest restaurants.
  • Over 100 varieties of cheese fondue exist, each with a unique name and different blend of cheeses, wine and seasoning.
  • Tradition states that if bread falls off a woman’s fork and into the pot she must kiss her neighbor. If a man drops anything into the pot he has to buy a round of drinks for the table.

Cheese Fondue Facts We Missed

Let us know if we may have missed some cheese fondue fun facts in the comment section below. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Fondue