Delectations

Sarah Bernhardt once said that there were only two kinds of indoor games and that she did not play cards. She was wrong. There are three, the third being fondue. And fondue is divided into three kinds: the classic Swiss one made with cheese, the Fondue Bour-guignonne, which has nothing to do with Burgundy, where you cook your own meat at the table in hot fat, and Fondue Orien-tale, where you do the same in boiling bouillon. They are the ideal food for togetherness, total involvement, love-ins, drink-ins, entertaining-at-little-cost-ins and making-it-easy-for-the-hostess-ins, since she can assemble all the foods beforehand and doesn’t have to budge from the dinner table.

With any fondue, you sit huddled over a coquelon, the earthenware pot used for cheese fondue, or a copper pot or any chafing dish, spearing up your cheese with bread or cooking your meat. I think four people per pot plenty, but then, I’m not a soul seeking intimacy over food.