Sam Zwick

Photo by angela pham on Unsplash

Holiday traditions and food are often one and the same. Turkey on Thanksgiving, latkes on Hanukkah, candy on Halloween, and, of course, wildly overpriced dinners on Valentine’s Day. 

As the holiday of love approaches, ditch the traditional date night and bring something to the table that makes every heart flutter: melted cheese. That’s right, it’s time to make fondue your new Valentine’s Day tradition. 

My birthday is February 15th, the day after Valentine’s Day. On the one hand, pink-wrapped candy is half off, but on the other, celebrating both the holiday and my birthday in a 48-hour span is tough. When we started dating, my wife suggested we forgo a night out on the 14th and stay in instead. We still wanted to do something special, though, and that’s how we invented my favorite holiday food tradition. 

“But fondue sounds like a lot of work,” you’re saying as you scroll through a menu where a 6 ounce filet is $47, and the only open reservation is two seats at the bar at 9:45 pm. Yes, fondue requires a little bit of prep, but it’s fun! The point of Valentine’s Day is to spend time with the person you love, and what better place than in the kitchen?

Fondue is, at its core, a two-part meal. Part one is the cheese. A proper cheese sauce is pretty easy to make and even easier to keep warm. A small crock pot does the job perfectly. There’s no need to invest in a fondue set that comes with a Bunsen burner. We’re not in high school science class here; we’re eating molten gruyère. 

The second part of the meal is the dippers. (Come up with a better word for them, I dare you.) If restaurants want to trim down their menu on this special day, fondue is here to expand it well beyond the norm. Bread, roasted potatoes, chicken sausage, raw bell peppers, apples, and roasted broccoli make the cut in my house, but there’s room for plenty more around the melting pot. Toss on some music, get out two cutting boards, and let the anticipation build for the steamy activities to come: consuming cheese in its liquid form. 

Cheese fondue is hardly a new concept. The first recorded recipe dates back to the 17th century when some crazy genius decided to melt cheese into wine. Wine and cheese; even the ingredients are romantic. The dish originated in Sweden before taking America by storm during the 1960s, a decade known for love and a lot of it. 

Mix and match as you go. Fill your fork with a slice of sausage, a chunk of potato, and a sprig of broccoli for a complete bite made all the better by a generous coat of velvety cheese. The options are plentiful, and the stress is at an all-time low as you eat whatever you want in any quantity you want. Order envy isn’t an option in the wonderful world of fondue.

But the festivities don’t have to end when the gouda is gone. Fondue means “to melt” in French, and there are a lot of meltable foods beyond the realm of cheese. Turn down the lights and take your Valentine’s Day to the next level with dessert.

Ditch the heart-shaped antacids and the mystery candies filled with what might just be toothpaste. If cheese fondue is the opening act, chocolate fondue is the main attraction. 

Be sure to find a good recipe, and be careful if you use the microwave, as chocolate is notoriously easy to burn. Once again, your options for dippers are nearly endless. My favorites include pound cake, strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, graham crackers, and rice crispy treats. Generally speaking, dessert is less prep and the perfect opportunity to keep the romance flowing. Plus, you don’t have to pretend not to hear the couple at the table six inches from you call each other “snookums” all night. It’s the ultimate win-win. 

Food and love, love and food: two sides of the same coin. Any holiday that allows you to celebrate both should be stress-free and, above all else, fun. So this Valentine’s Day, give the heart what it really wants: melted cheese and chocolate in the comfort of your own home.