Dominique's Raclette Dinner

For my second food entry, I want to talk about our Raclette dinner that Dominique prepared. He explained how this meal was a common one in Switzerland. He had two of the machines similar to the picture with half a round of cheese on each. As the cheese melted, he served it onto our plates with potatoes and a variety of different meats. I asked him how much the cheese cost and he told me 60 franks for an entire round. He also mentioned that the heating machine to cook them on was $250 dollars. The meal was very good. I didn't really like the meats with it because they were dried and raw, but the cheese and potatoes were quite good. This cheese is special to Switzerland according to an online encyclopedia because "Raclette was mentioned in medieval writings as a particularly nutritious meal consumed by peasants in mountainous Switzerland. It was then known in the German-speaking part of Switzerland as Bratchäs, or "roasted cheese." Traditionally, the Swiss cow herders used to take the cheese with them when they were moving cows to or from the pastures up in the mountains. In the evenings around the campfire, they would place the cheese next to the fire and, when it had reached the perfect softness, scrape it on top of some bread." I found it interesting that Dominique mentioned not to drink too much water with the cheese because it was going into our stomachs warm and the cold water would harden it in our stomachs. It honesty was hard to digest, but well worth it.