Yet again I have been invited to a dinner party were the main course is fondue...

Don't get me wrong i love Swiss cheese but what I don't relish is dipping my saliva covered fork into a bacterial nightmare...

I don't really see this dish as a delicacy but an easy option...Am I alone in this?

Communal eating is great and something that should not really be knocked, but fondue is not really a dish i would shout about let alone encourage and participate in too often.

How could I object without offence, still attend and not put my host out ?

I have considered Welsh Rarebit, will i be to Anglo-ish to do this?

Not really the easiest option if made properly from scratch...

if you're really worried about saliva, use a fork to pull the bread from the fondue fork, and eat with that one? Of course, everyone would need to do that.

Really though, the amount of bacterial contamination would be negligible.

I guess you're new here.
http://www.google.ch/search?client=s...IMjs-gac98CtCQ

So you never go out, never have a drink then?
Do you bring your own glass to the pub and ask for unopened bottles?

You have a point in that the Fondue was traditionally a family meal - so everybody basically shared the same germs anyway.

Still, there are probably more germs on the convenience food commonly sold around here than in a typical cheese-fondue (which gets heated anyway).

Of course, it's your choice. But you should find a more convincing excuse ;-)

From fondue etiquette:
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Article...51/fondue.aspx

One of the many great things about winter, fondue in les alpes...always followed by a few hands of Jass

Funny. I haven't heard that excuse to avoid fondue yet.
Cholesterol, yes.
Saturated fats, yes.
Lactose intolerance, yes.
Celiac disease, yes.

But spit??? Oh well. Always a first.

And the point of this posting is ?


To show you have no concept of how to appreciate another culture !


Objective achieved !!

Follow any meal with enough hard alcohol and the germs shouldn't matter. This advice serves me well when I have to work in any place with dodgy water

There's allways honesty? If it bothers you that much to discuss it here, then every swiss person I know will except you for your strange Anglo-Saxon ways. But don't forget to ask your self, how many different people that you've shared saliva with since you were a teenager? or fondue chinoise if you don't like cheese

How does saliva get in the fondue bowl? I guess the folk you hang out with spit in there between dips?

The cheese (or meat) is too hot to eat straight off the fork and has to be removed onto your plate and actually enters the dinner's mouth with another fork, which is not dipped in the bowl.

As for a "bacterial nightmare", the cheese is boiling. Any bacteria are dead.

True, it's not a meal for delicate souls and the unadventurous. You'd better stick with beans on toast...

I must have missed that lesson at my Swiss Fondue eating course. Everyone I know dips and eats.

1. take bread from basket, put it on your plate
2. stab bread with fork, using your own strategy to secure it on the fork so that it doesn't fall off and you end up having to remove a layer of clothing or kissing your neighbor.
3. dip
4. stir
5. spin
6. insert into mouth, careful not to burn
7. drink wine
8. bloat
9. feel awful
10. puke

amateurs, all of you, dip the bread and fork in kirsch before the cheese.

Use overproof kirsch for extra germ killing properties.

Now you just sound like an alcoholic.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=47.552826,7.592965

You're not alone.

I can't stand the stuff. It really is putrid and the gas burner fuel stinks to high heaven too.

I will avoid any invitation which includes the word "fondue" or anything that rhymes with it. It's really just a way of saying "I can't cook, nor am I willing to spend any money on getting this done properly, so you'll have to live with this yellow barf mix on a stove".

If someone would simply just say "Dude, I can't cook, can you live with salad and a peanut butter sandwich?" I would at least feel at ease.

__________________
Crash your karma into little bits of happiness

Just dip once and END IT!

Love cheese with a passion and love stodgy food. Fondue is a match made in heaven for me.

I've so far managed not to spit on my fork although, after getting quietly sozzled on the wine provided, I may have inadvertently poked it into the side of my nose/cheek/ear on occasion.

My grandfather always told me 'to catch maggots use a fish'

Wish man !

I grew up with all kind of fondue, so yes you can call me an expert.

Done properly your lips do not make contact with the fork. It is too hot anyway! The meat has to cool down and can be dip in yummy sauces. Bread is eaten from the fork but lip not touching it.

In many culture it is an honor to share food with someone else so be respectful and accept the invitation.

Pardon!

You sound like a teetotaler

Oh, perhaps not.

It has nothing at all with respect, culture or anything personal, I just don't like fondue !

''so be respectful and accept the invitation'' ????

May I ask, what gives you the right to speak to me like my nanny ?