What is the origin of Raclette?
What is the origin of Raclette?
The origin of this traditional dish dates back to the Middle Ages. Legend has it that on a gloomy and cold day, a few winegrowers were working in the Swiss mountains.
As usual, they took, sitting around the fire, a fortifying snack: bread, cheese and wine for lunch. One of them, Leon, wanted a hot meal.
As he had no cooking utensils with him, he had the idea of cooking his cheese directly on the fire. This is how roast cheese is said to have been invented.
For a long time the Swiss heated the cheese maker by the fireside, scraping it with a knife. The name only took hold at the end of the 19th century, when raclette became a national dish, before crossing borders when the raclette machine was invented in the 1970s.
