The Swiss dish that usually involves melted cheese or chocolate is fondue.
Traditional cheese fondue is made by melting cheese—often Gruyère, Emmental, or a regional combination—with white wine in a communal pot called a caquelon. Diners spear pieces of bread on long forks and dip them into the warm mixture. The word fondue comes from the French fondre, meaning “to melt.”
Although fondue is strongly associated with Swiss mountain life, it became a national symbol partly through deliberate promotion by the Swiss Cheese Union in the 1930s. The dish also made a major international impression at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Chocolate fondue is a later variation: Swiss restaurateur Konrad Egli is credited with popularizing it in the 1960s as a promotion for Toblerone.
A common mix-up is treating fondue as only a cheese dish. Today, the term can also describe communal dishes involving melted chocolate, hot oil, or broth, but cheese fondue remains the classic Swiss version.