[Mikitivity]

Welcome to the 2006 International Democratic Union Cheese Festival!

The basic rules of this year?s festival can be found at:
http://s10.invisionfree.com/IDU/index.php?showtopic=463

This portion of the festival is dedicated to focusing on the Cheeses products (dishes or other) manufactured within the IDU itself. This year the following cheeses have been submitted to this festival for you all to sample. Please select the cheese you most like. The winning cheese will have the right to label itself as the Best IDU Cheese Product in 2006.

Cheese Product (Country of Manufacture)
*Thuvian Fondue (Mikitivity)

{Descriptions of the Cheeses are posted below. NSWiki links to the cheeses and countries are provided above. All festival participants who want their entries to be added to NSWiki are encouraged to do so or can ask Mikitivity for help to do so.}

Anybody can vote once in this poll, and you can still vote for the other two IDU Cheese Festival categories: Best IDU Cheese and Best Imported Cheese to the IDU! Naturally festival attendees are encouraged to sample as much as they like to make the hard decision on which cheese is the best!

Since there was only one entry, nations may enter other products and festival participants may vote other. If an other vote is cast, it will only count if there a reply in this thread listing what that other product is. Valid votes must first have an entry reply prior to the vote.

The votes will be tabulated Friday Feb. 19, 2006 (i.e. the voting will last until then). Replies are allowed (but only after the posts for the five cheeses have been made).

[Mikitivity]

Nation: Mikitivity
Home Region: IDU
Entry Category: Best Cheese Related Product

Thuvian Fondue

Thuvian Fondue is a traditional communal cheese dish popular in Mikitivity where people take turns dipping forks with rye bread and bratwurst into an earthenware pot, called a kasetopf, of melted Brig cheese and white wine that is kept warm by a small burner. The white wine used in the dish varies by locale, but most Miervatians favour the use local wines. Spice m?lange is usually ground on top of the cheese as it cooks in the kasetopf by those whom are eating the fondue.

History

The people of the Mikitivity Thuvians invented Thuvian Fondue out of necessity. In the remote mountain villages people had to rely upon local food. During the long winters, fresh food became scarce. Miervatians found that by melting stale cheese it was edible. Local wines and seasonings, such as Spice m?lange, were added to the melted cheese. By swirling an old hard rye bread into the creamy mixture of cheese and spices, several foods that might not have tasted good were given new life.

Local pork bratwursts were usually added to the fondue to give it some variety, but when the meat was scarce, it was not included in the dish. Since few villages remain isolated these days, most Thuvian Fondues include the sausages. However, non-meat eaters should request a Vegetarian Thuvian Fondue if they do not want the sausage to be included in their meal.

Traditions

It is customary for people eating the fondue with others to not allow their lips or tongue to touch the dipping forks, but instead to pull the bread or sausage off the fork. This was done to prevent the spread of colds since the forks would be redipped back into the shared kasetopf.

If a piece of bread or sausage slips off the fork, it is tradition for the person who lost their next bite to purchase another round of drinks for everybody sharing the fondue. At some restaurants, customers can request a variant fondue called Thuvian Prosit Fondue, where the forks are buttered to make it far easier for the bread and sausage to slide off the fork.

Ingredients

1 dl of a local white wine / person
200 g of Brig cheese / person
hardened diced dark or light rye bread
thin slices of cooked bratwurst