The New Trend: Fondue Dinner Party

Forks, flames, and fromage: How to throw the ultimate fondue party

2024 is Eater’s year of the dinner party, and for our first course, we’re serving up a fondue party. Fondue?, you say. What is this, a ski lodge in 1975? To which we respectfully reply: the allure of a deep bowl of hot, melted cheese, let alone a cheese pull, transcends mere decades. It is as constant as the sun, as eternal as hope. We are far from alone in this decidedly uncontroversial position: fondue has of late been oozing all over social media and making cameo appearances on restaurant menus. It also sits in the middle of the overlapping Venn diagram of two current dining crazes: for maximalism, and for ’70s-era food nostalgia. And, not incidentally, it is currently cold outside, and few foods are more well-suited to the dead of winter than molten cheese.

Here, then, is a comprehensive guide to hosting your very own fondue party. You’ll find recipes: for traditional fondue, chocolate fondue, and a fondue-adjacent hot pot. You’ll find etiquette tips, sources for the best fondue gear, and an ode to queso, the world’s best lazy fondue. You’ll even find the answer for what to do with all that leftover kirsch. So join us as we gather around a burner to celebrate all things fondue. Lactaid and ski boots are optional.