Fondue Party

Serves You Right Thanks to bloggers, simple recipes, and charismatic television personalities, as well as renewed interest in personal health and vitality, food is basking in the popular culture's limelight. And according to a bevy of recent reports, eating food with other people - a centuries-old practice - offers a range of healthful benefits itself. People who eat with family and friends generally eat more balanced meals, many say, and develop healthy eating habits as a result. Really, when you think about it, it makes sense: in a supportive environment, where eating is an activity accompanied by the positive emotions of bonding, food tends to taste as good as the time we're having with it.

So, that said, dinner parties shouldn't be stressful. They don't have to be stuffy, and you don't have to worry about which fork to use for what every time you sit down to supper with your circle. Instead, invite friends over for fondue, the consummate grown-up version of finger food that's fun for all and good for you, too.

What You'll Need
Having a fondue party starts with the right fondue pot. Typically, as we'll see, you'll prepare one (or more) of three types of fondue: cheese, meat, or dessert. Fondue pots come in a veritable smorgasbord of styles, but you'll want one made of durable, easy-to-clean ceramics, coated cast-iron, or stainless steel. Make sure to get one that will withstand high heat for meat fondue, which involves heating oil and submerging cubes of meat in it until cooked.

If you're having a large gathering, you might want to consider serving multiple types of fondue; one table can be devoted to cheese, perhaps, and another to piping hot chocolate fondue and fruit. Either way, you'll need plenty of fondue forks, so make sure you have a couple allotted for each guest (tie them together and place them next to a name card), and always keep meat forks at meat fondue pots only.

Spicing It Up
Fondue is naturally an interactive dining experience, but you can bring your guests in on the action even more by adding a theme to your fondue party - 1970s-dress-only, perhaps, or celebrating Swiss culture. Involve guests, too, by asking them to bring bread or vegetables for cheese fondue and marshmallows, fruit, and cake for dessert fondue.

Keeping It Clean
Finally, make sure to kindly remind everyone of fondue etiquette, not meant to detract from the fun, but to enhance it. Double-dipping is frowned upon, and as a general rule, no tongues or lips should make contact with fondue forks. Meat cubes should be removed from forks with a regular dinner fork. Some etiquette guides offer silly "punishments" for breaking rules; you may want to incorporate them to keep things jovial.