Global flavours of the Swiss Abroad take centre stage at fondue World Championship

Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott

The Mondial de la Fondue, the Fondue World Championship, is held every two years to crown the cheesemaker with the best melty, cheesy recipe. This year, Swiss Abroad competitors from Brazil and Canada took part.

In a small village overlooking Lake Geneva and the French Alps, a crowd of die-hard fondue eaters come together to decide who makes the best fondue in the world.

This year’s competition was eagerly awaited, since it had to be cancelled 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

240 competitors from Switzerland and abroad competed for the Fondue World Champion title. Participants were divided into two categories: professionals, including cheese makers and restaurateurs, and amateurs, a category which is open to the general public.

However, the same rules apply to professional and amateur alike. “Fondues must contain at least 50% Gruyère PDO. The other half is up to the creativity of the participants”, explains Graziella Jayet, spokesperson for the event.

Over the three days of the event, more than 10,000 people sampled a variety of fondues, served in more than 6,000 caquelons.

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Brazil finalist Clara Gaehwiler waits with her father (left in the black hat) in the queue to check the Gruyère cheese that will be used in the fondue. Only genuine Gruyère PDO cheese is authorised for the fondue prepared for the competition. swissinfo.ch

The Gruyère cheese was accompanied with local wine. swissinfo.ch

The event’s president, Stéphane Jayet, congratulates the participants. swissinfo.ch

Clara Gaehwiler with her father Stephan Gaehwiler and president Stéphane Jayet. swissinfo.ch

After checking the Gruyère cheese, each fondue mixture was sealed and taken directly to the stage where the competition was held. swissinfo.ch

The finalists stood for almost three hours to take part in the competition. swissinfo.ch

Clara Gaehwiler prepares her fondue on stage with the last finalists. swissinfo.ch

The stress was palpable, but it did not steep into Clara Gaehwiler’s recipe. swissinfo.ch

Many Brazilians living in Switzerland came to cheer on the fondue with a taste of Brazil. swissinfo.ch

Spectators wait to try the various fondues. swissinfo.ch

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A Brazilian flair

This year, the organising committee went far beyond Switzerland’s borders to find the best fondue, travelling as far as Brazil and Canada.

In Brazil, Clara Gaehwiler won the final. The daughter of a Bern-native who has been producing cheese in Brazil for over 40 years, Clara Gaehwiler found herself ûnable to escape the love of cheese when she was very young.

“There was cheese at every meal. Today, all my recipes contain cheese”, says Clara, who also owns a restaurant and delicatessen in Pirenópolis, in the Brazilian state of Goiás. “So I had no choice but to love cheese,” she jokes.

In accordance with the rules of the Mondial de Fondue, the finalist in the professional category used 50% Gruyère, an exclusively Swiss product, and a mixture of cheeses produced by her father in his Queijaria Alpina (Alpine cheese dairy) in Brazil.

Fondue from Canada 

Canada’s participation, on the other hand, is due to a challenge by a Swiss man who currently lives in the province of Quebec. “I contacted the organising committee in Tartegnin as a joke, telling them that a World Cup worthy such a title should travel to different countries. They took me at my word and I ended up organising the event in Quebec,” says Gérald Golay, who lived in canton Vaud before emigrating to Canada in 2010.

Philippe Magnenat prepares his fondue on the finalists’ stage representing his new Canadian home. swissinfo.ch

The joke gradually grew into a business that imports more than 20 tonnes of Gruyère and Emmental cheese every year to make its fondue mixes, which are sold in bags or as a “fondue dog” in hot-dog buns served at fairs and festivals.

Back to the roots

For Philippe Magnenat from Lausanne, a finalist in the amateur category from Canada, the trip to Switzerland represented a return to his roots. Magnenat was a warrant officer instructor at the Bière parade ground before moving to Canada in 2002. He is also a member of the Council of the Swiss Abroad. He said he was surprised to have been selected. “I signed up to support my friend Gérald Golay, who organised the event,” he says.

In the amateur final, Philippe Magnenat prepared the same fondue he always makes in Canada, “a 100% Swiss fondue, with Swiss cheeses”, he said. “It’s easy to find Swiss cheeses to make my fairly traditional mix. Sometimes they’re even cheaper than Quebec cheeses,” he adds.

Too exotic for the Swiss palate

In the fondue she presented to the judges in Switzerland, Clara Gaehwiler focused on Brazilian products. As well as the cheeses, she also brought white wine from Monte Alba and added a pinch of pink pepper from Aroeira to the recipe.

Her recipe was perhaps too exotic for the jury’s palate, who declared a cheesemaker from the Gruyère region in the canton of Fribourg, where the cheese that sponsored the event is produced, the winner of the World’s Best Fondue competition.

For the fifth competition in 2025, the organising committee has promised to open up a “free” category, “to give free rein to creativity and not force people to use 50% Gruyère PDO”. Perhaps this will give more exotic, foreign fondues a better chance of reaching the podium.

Sibylle Groux, whose family is from Tartegnin, was crowned champion in the amateur category, while Damien Raemy and Maurice Vauthey, from canton Fribourg, won the fondue World Cup for professionals. Alain Munafo de Gilly, Mondial de fondue