On Wed, 5 Mar 2008 07:06:54 -0700, "Janet Bostwick"
wrote:

raymond wrote:
On Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:13:30 -0500, "jmcquown"
wrote:



There was a disgusting (to me, anyway) recipe for fondue in the
local paper this morning. It called for a adding a 15 oz. can of
white beans (drained) pureed to 1 lb. sharp cheddar, 1 lb.
reduced-fat cheddar, worcestershire and dry mustard and a negligible
dribble of hot sauce. The only redeeming quality IMHO was the
addition of a 12 oz. bottle of dark ale (which is the liquid you
puree the beans in LOL) Let's forget, for a moment, about the
reduced-fat cheddar... why on earth would anyone add pureed BEANS to
fondue?!!!

IMO it's because a couple of generations have grown up with all
combinations of cheese and bean dips and they associate the two. To my
20-year-old college student, a fondue is a dip and nothing more, and a
fondue pot is a way to keep it warm. Her favorite "fondue" is a jar of
Tostitos salsa, a jar of Tostitos queso, and two cans of Old El Paso
refried beans dumped into her fondue pot and dipped with Scoops. Other
students in her dorm taught her to make this and she likes the fact
that it attracts guys and will keep them around for the duration of a
Monday Night Football game. They go through two pots of this stuff on
a Monday night. To her, and to the Monday Night Football guys, pieces
of French bread dipped into a Swiss cheese and white wine fondue is
disgusting. Fondue as we knew it in the 60s is being redefined, Jill,
and in a couple more generations you wouldn't recognize it.

I'm curious. . .do the kids really call this fondue? It seems to me that if
they were going to name it something, it would be some sort of Mexican
thing. No wonder the folks that trace the origin of words have so much
trouble. Today's generation can't be the first to twist stuff around.

Yes, they call it fondue, because it's served in a fondue pot.

Me: "What did you do last night?"
She: "A bunch of people came to our room and we made fondue and
watched Dancing With The Stars." (Her roommate has a big screen LCD
HDTV.)
Me: "You mean that Tostitos and Old El Paso fondue?"
She: "Yep."