A Fondue Skeptic

Apples and pretzels - an unexpected surprise

By Andy Steinke

A few weeks ago, a friend invited my wife and me over for dinner—for fondue. I had never experienced fondue as a meal before, or at all for that matter, but from what I had seen on TV I didn’t think it would be a very satisfying night at the dinner table. I always thought fondue was more of a hors d’oeuvre than an entrée. How satiating could tiny morsels of food dipped in cheese really be? Needless to say, I didn’t want to go.

My wife said “yes,” so I went.

To show how disapproving I was of her decision I ate half a bag of chips and three hearty handfuls of M&M’s before heading to our friend’s apartment to “eat.” I don’t normally have much more than a sandwich for lunch, so supper needs to be more substantial. I couldn’t imagine the fondue was going to fulfill my basic human needs for sustenance.

When we arrived at our friend’s apartment, I saw not one, but two fondue pots, one filled with a cheesy concoction and one filled with chocolate. I was still unconvinced that this was a good idea, but at least there were two pots. My wife, our friend, three other friends and I sat down around the pots with Styrofoam bowls filled with green peppers, chicken, bread, apples, bananas, angel food cake, chips and pretzels – eight foods I’ll probably never eat together again.

I grabbed my skewer and started stabbing pieces of food, asking which pot I was supposed to dip them in. (I was told the chicken wasn’t meant for the chocolate, but it sure did taste good). The bananas were by far the hardest food to keep on my stabber, but I fished the soggy chunks out of the chocolate after they fell in. (No one thought it was funny, however, that I used my fingers to get the pieces out).

Half an hour later, the five of us were trying to stop dipping, but we were having trouble willing ourselves to do so, even though we were stuffed. We had slowly filled our stomachs to the brim, much to my amazement. This skeptic was satisfied by his much beleaguered meal.

I’ve always said I’ll try anything once, but sometimes I need a little convincing first. Now my biggest anxiety is finding a place to hide my wife’s credit cards so she won’t buy a fondue pot of her own.