Cheese is practically considered its own food group here in France. With more than 300 varieties, there's something for everyone - hard and soft, cow and goat and everything in between. Every night, after dinner, my host family serves a cheese plate consisting of two types of brie (a soft, cow's milk cheese), a gruyere (harder, sharper cheese), and blue cheese (a softer stronger cheese with a distinctive smell). This weekend, when on a trip to Chamonix Mont-Blanc (a French ski area to the east of Lyon), I had a large and delicious dinner of fondue and raclette, two versions of melted cheese.
Fondue is originally a dish from Switzerland and consists of a large pot of melted cheese, eaten by dipping bread, potatoes or meats into the pot. We ordered the "full Savoy Fondue" (Savoy is the region in France where Chamonix is located). We also ordered a demi-wheel of raclette, a semi-hard cow cheese that is commonly eaten melted. The entire table had so much food! It was covered with plates of charcuterie (cut meats like ham, prosciuitto and salami), fingerling potatoes (smaller potatoes that sometimes look like, you guessed it, fingers!), sliced pieces of baguette (a typical French bread), and cornichons (mini French pickles). There almost wasn't enough room for the fondue pot in the middle!
