Swiss Raclette and Fondue

Here, a friend and I share Swiss raclette and fondue at a restaurant in Zürich, Switzerland. According to my Swiss friend, one traditionally heats the entire block of raclette cheese, then uses a knife to scrape the melted portion over potatoes, ham, vegetables, etc.

For simplicity, smaller tabletop raclette ovens contain small cast iron hot plates which perfectly melt the raclette cheese for pouring.

Fondue and raclette are essentially "fancy" ways of eating traditional European foods covered in cheese, something not at all alien to American taste buds. The primary difference between American and Swiss fare is the quality. In the U.S., people will melt cheap Velveeta or another quasi-cheese over, well, pretty much everything. In Switzerland, the cheese is actual cheese, and of excellent quality.

An entire bag of small boiled potatoes was given to me for my raclette order: "Gschwellti" (Swiss German) or "Pommes de Terre" (French).

This restaurant offered several choices for the raclette--basic, or with ham or another featured item. I opted for the country ham, which was delicious. There were also pearl onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, gherkins (pickles), applesauce (I think), and miniature corn cobs.

Here, you can see my Swiss friend gleefully taking a break from devouring the fondue to trying my raclette.

I have a standard American "gimme more" appetite, and still found this platter of raclette and pot of fondue hard to finish. But no trip to Switzerland would be complete without trying these traditional Swiss food dishes.