Fondue is made by combining wine, cognac or brandy with cheese in a pot that is heated from below, to melt the cheese. Other flavours can be added to enhance the taste including garlic, seasoning and spices. Once melted, fondue is eaten by dipping hunks of bread into the cheese using long forks. As well as bread you can use other foods for dipping, including vegetables and pieces of cooked meat (note that meat should be cooked as the cheese fondue is not hot enough to cook it).

Over the years, the traditional cheese fondue idea has evolved and chocolate fondue has become popular. Pieces of fruit, pastry, marshmallows, cake and biscuits are dipped into a pot of melted chocolate for a deliciously indulgent treat.

Traditionally fondue is made in a pot on the stove and then moved to the table where it is kept warm by a small candle underneath the communal pot. Over the years a range of traditions have developed around eating fondue, including that if you drop your bread in the pot you must buy a round of drinks or in climates colder than ours, run naked outside, even if there’s snow. Sounds like a great variant on Dark MOFO’s Nude Solstice Swim – it could certainly catch on in Tasmania!