Salad can be to acidic. It may be too simple, but pears and grapes are always a nice complement to fondue.

Are you thinking something to eat with the fondue itself, or to follow like a dessert. If it's the former, then definitely, a robust green salad would be great. If it's the latter, then perhaps a colonel, but with kirsch rather than vodka would be the way to go . . . or perhaps both, if you're feeling generous!

you don't have to put acidic ingredients into salad... so, salad.

Talk about fondue and you're sure a Swiss guy will come to bring its "science"... so here I am :D.

Traditionally here we don't eat much with fondue, because it's already a very rich meal. But a good "viande des Grisons" makes a good accompanying dish, with vinegar pickles and small onions.

To drink, a good (Swiss :) ) white wine, kirsch for the "coup du milieu" (middle meal drink) and good black tea.

consommé?

My family has a tradition of having shrimp cocktail and a simple salad with fondue every Christmas Eve. We usually also have a simple soup, like ministrone as an alternative for vegetarians or those who don't want to overindulge.

I have to comment on the tea suggestions. I begun drinking tea with my fondue (which is a once or twice year occurrence) last year and for once, I did not feel weighed down by all of the cheese the following day. I would imagine that any hot liquid would do (even water with lemon...) but now, I won't eat fondue without a hot drink by my side.

in addition to the wonderful suggestions of salad and fruit, I love it when fondue is served with some steamed veg (i.e. broccoli) in addition to bread....

I serve cheese fondue as our Christmas dinner, and I like to serve it with plenty of vegetables and fruit for dipping, which helps lighten up the bread-and-cheese hangover. Some likely candidates:
- chunks of roasted butternut squash
- roasted potatoes, roasted carrots, roasted sweet potatoes (which you can roast ahead and reheat on site)
- blanched broccoli, roasted cauliflower
- blanched green beans
- red or green grapes, washed and well dried
- chunks of apple or firm pear (if you haven't tried fruit dipped into fondue, you'll be bowled over by how delicious the combination is)
- grape tomatoes (though the cheese does kinda slither off the skins; I like to pop a grape tomato atop a cheese-dipped chunk of bread)
- asparagus spears

I do serve a salad of dark greens, usually topped with nuts and dried fruit and dressed with a slightly sweet fruity dressing: orange-sesame, lemon & olive oil, or a warm apple cider dressing.

Beer or wine are obvious choices to drink, but consider hard cider or perry. A nice crisp cider makes a great contrast to all that cheesy richness.

@rosebud Usually we say that you should never drink cold beverage (except alcoholic ones like wine) with fondue because it freezes the cheese in the stomach and makes it very difficult to digest.

@eallen How are you able to eat a shrimp cocktail and a fondue? Isn't that a bit too much? How much cheese per person do you put in your fondue?

I had a group of my girl friends over and we had tart apples (I think granny smith) and asparagus and artisan breads to dip in our cheese fondue, it was a pretty big hit :) (both raw)

asparagus would be great, or brussels sprouts (though they would be mrore of a side since it might be tricky to dip them)

As Gimly said (we've spent the past 5 years in Switzerland), a good white wine or good black tea would be ideal.

Can you find a Swiss white wine in the U.S.? That would be the most authentic. A good wine merchant would be able to match a wine to fondue.

For something unusual, why not buy an extraordinary flavoured black tea, one by Mariage Frères? Rushka, Russian Breakfast, Full Moon... the choices are endless. Maybe get 2! (they can be ordered online from their website, as well as US retailers)

We had raclette last night :-)

When I was in Geneva a month ago, the waitress suggested we have a plate of air dried beef (I suppose similar to braesaola) before the fondue. The beef came out with cornichons and pickled onions. It was very good and a nice, light way to start the meal. Also, she would not serve water because of the aforementioned congealed cheese in stomach problem.

I agree with those who've suggested steamed broccoli...it goes well with cheese and helps you not feel quite so weighed down by the fondue.

my family usually does fruit (apples, pears, grapes) with cheese fondue to help balance out all the cheese. also like the fresh green salad idea.

Hilaro: the air dried beef is the "viande des Grisons" which Gimly mentioned.

Raw mushrooms are great dipped in fondue! I have been to restaurants that served them as an accompaniment. And they are very light.

Thanks, everyone, for all the ideas. All I was coming up with was melon slices (not to dip, but to go alongside.) I don't even like melon! This has certainly helped, not to mention the quick education in what to expect for a typical fondue. Thank you. :)

The British Medical Journal does an annual end-of-year issue that is very, very British. The 2010 issue included a randomised controlled crossover trial of 20 people (the scientists & friends sacrificed themselves for the sake of research.) They drank either wine or black tea with the fondue, followed by kirsch schnapps or water as a digestive. See the video at http://www.bmj.com/site/video/fondue.xhtml Read the article at http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c6731.full