Liquid cheese to perfection Fribourg man wins the Fondue World Championship in Tartegnin VD
Competitors taste one of the fondues presented at the World Fondue Championships in Tartegnin VD on Saturday.
Image: Keystone
A jury member evaluates one of the competition fondues.
Image: Keystone
Competitors taste one of the fondues presented at the World Fondue Championships in Tartegnin VD on Saturday.
Image: Keystone
A jury member evaluates one of the competition fondues.
Image: Keystone
The Fondue World Championship was held in Tartegnin VD on Saturday evening. Almost 200 participants competed for the title in the village of 240 souls above Lake Geneva, a good two thirds of whom were amateurs.
15.11.2025, 20:46
16.11.2025, 06:26
SDA
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The new Swiss fondue world champion comes from Fribourg.
- Benedikt Wüthrich from the Auboranges cheese dairy beat off the competition.
- Frédéric and Lucie Gay from Thônex GE won the amateur category.
The competition was won by Benedikt Wüthrich from the Auboranges FR cheese dairy in the professional category, while Frédéric and Lucie Gay from Thônex GE won the amateur category.
The participants came mainly from Switzerland, but not only: France was also represented, as were Canada and Brazil, where preliminary decisions had been made for participation in the World Championships in Tartegnin.
The participating chefs had to bring all the ingredients for two fondues, one for the qualification and one for the final. The basic rule was that the recipe had to contain at least 50 percent AOP Gruyère cheese.
Five criteria for the perfect fondue
The various juries, chaired by Geneva chef Philippe Chevrier, judged the fondues on the basis of a tasting with the same bread. Five criteria were evaluated: Taste, appearance, consistency, homogeneity and overall impression.
The Fondue World Championship is not limited to the competition on Saturday evening. The event, which began on Friday and runs until Sunday, also offers various activities - from folklore music and a village rally to demonstrations on how to handle chainsaws.
The fondues can be enjoyed at various locations in the village, even over the roofs of Tartegnin in a balloon basket suspended from a crane. Other novelties at this year's edition include a caquelon throwing competition with a bronze caquelon weighing 24.580 kg.
Television crews from abroad
The Fondue World Championship takes place every two years. "Our goal is to attract 15,000 people, but we would be happy with 12,000, like the last edition in 2023," Graziella Jayet, spokesperson for the event, told the Keystone-SDA news agency. Bringing that many people to a village with just 249 inhabitants is quite an achievement.
The tournament is now known beyond Switzerland's borders. Accordingly, media demand has also risen sharply, said Jayet. A Dutch television crew and several French television crews have come to Tartegnin.