The date is the 1st of October 2022. The location is a slightly grotty student kitchen at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France. The food? Raclette. The scene is set for my Lyonnais cheese-awakening. Little did I know that this unassuming evening would prove pivotal for my Lyon experience. From this point onwards, my weekly Wednesday routine involved the slightly ironic combination of a two hour ballet class, followed by my flat’s traditional cheese appreciation session. Raclette, morbier, camembert, ossau-iraty, époisses, Saint-Félicien, chèvre, truffade! Of this selection of very pungent, though very delicious, French cheeses, raclette undoubtedly made the strongest impression on me. Thankfully, my French flatmates wholeheartedly supported me in testing my ability to eat huge amounts of it… Now, almost a year later, I am still nostalgically reminiscing about our cosy, ultra-French soirées. I find myself reflecting on the symbolism of raclette. It might be just one of the astounding 1200 cheese varieties currently available in France, yet it has become emblematic of French attitudes towards conviviality, wining and dining together, and, of course, appreciating the rich culinary culture of French cheeses. So what journey did this alpine cheese take over the centuries before it landed on my plate?
The origin story
Legend has it that back in the twelfth century, shepherds in the wintery Swiss mountains would gather around a fire to eat their lunch of bread, cheese and wine together. One fateful day Léon, one of the shepherds, wanted to have a warm meal. Because he didn’t have any kitchen utensils with him, he had the ingenious idea to warm his cheese directly over the fire. And so le fromage ‘rôti’ (roasted cheese) was born, later to become raclette. The legend then continues in 1291 with Guillaume Tell, the hero of many a Swiss myth. It is claimed that he successfully shot an apple balanced on his son’s head with his crossbow. This victory is famously attributed to the raclette which he had enjoyed just a few moments prior. From this point onwards, raclette traced its way through Swiss culture.
"You melt tasty, fatty, soft and tender cheeses..."
Fromage rôti remained a culinary fixture of the mountains throughout the medieval period. In 1574, Gaspard Ambüel described how ‘you sit down, pull out a few provisions from your little bag or pouch, each according to his means, and you melt tasty, fatty, soft and tender cheeses with a pungent flavour…’. And so it gradually became an excuse for social gatherings. Little by little, fromage rôti started to morph into the dish we know today. It assumed its reputation for conviviality and even came to be known as râcla— coming from the verb racler (to scrape) in Swiss dialect.
It was not until the nineteenth century, however, that fromage rôti became known as raclette. Swiss author Eugène Rambert coined the term in his euphoric declaration ‘Look at the drama of the raclette, oh this beautiful raclette,’ — no doubt he relished his raclette-fuelled cheese coma after writing that. Over the course of this century, raclette then made its glacial descent down the Swiss Alps and into the valleys, becoming a veritable national dish.
"Swiss author Eugène Rambert coined the term in his euphoric declaration ‘Look at the drama of the raclette, oh this beautiful raclette'"
In the 1960s it made its jump over the border to France and la raclette de Savoie (savoyard raclette) was born. French and Swiss raclette are indisputably related. The cheese connoisseurs among you may, however, notice that Swiss raclette often has a stronger, slightly floral, and pungent flavour owing to the pasteurised alpine milk used in its production. French raclette, on the other hand, is smooth, buttery and made from unpasteurised milk, designed to perfectly coat that delicious combination of potatoes, charcuterie and cornichons (French gherkins).
The boom in French winter sports in the 1960s then fuelled an explosion in the raclette industry. Skiers and holiday-makers alike could not get enough of the stuff and the traditional raclette, that half wheel of cheese melting steadily at the centre of the table, rapidly became the culinary symbol of mountain holidays. In 1975, Tefal manufactured the first raclette à table— a raclette machine with individual pans sized perfectly for a slice of Raclette cheese. Et voilà, the raclette the French know and love was re-born. Since then, this cheese dish has skyrocketed in popularity. Sales of raclette machines even spiked by 300% in 2020 as families searched for comforting activities to do together. It is safe to say that this cheese has become a true winter favourite across France.
It might sound cheesy but…
Nowadays raclette is more than just a cheese. When I asked my French flatmates what they associated with this dish, their responses emphasised the importance of raclette to French cuisine. One explained, ‘it is the perfect alpine dish: it’s simple, it’s social, everyone likes it and it keeps you nice and warm.’ Another suggested that ‘it’s a comforting dish that’s great for sharing, it really represents the way the French see meals (as a time for sharing).’ Beyond stereotypes of skiing and Switzerland, then, raclette can help us to better understand the importance of conviviality in French culinary culture.