January 15, 2008. Shanghai campus - CEIBS MBA07 students Matthias Heubi and Eric Schreiber organized a traditional Swiss Fondue Dinner today, on behalf of the International Club. With a bit of improvising to make up for the lack of the right equipment, they managed to pull it off.

"Instead of Swiss Caquelons, we used the ceramic pots and heating sets used for Chinese Hot-Pot. It worked very well and we got many helping hands from other students. It is always great to see how students at CEIBS work together when it comes to achieving a common goal," said Matt, when asked about the secret behind the event's success. "It was quite different from the 'Swiss' way, where things tend to be perfectly planned and organized".

Despite no prior experience in cooking for such a large group - 40 - and not a lot of time to pull it all together, the Swiss students and their helpers thoroughly enjoyed it all. "It was great fun and it worked out very well," said Matt.

Prior to the event, the organizers spent a fair bit of time wildly guessing how much cheese would be consumed by Chinese students. They managed to get it just about right, and very little cheese was left over after the event. "We would never have thought that Chinese are such big cheese lovers, they were as hungry as Swiss mountain farmers" said Eric. "Luckily we had factored in a safety margin."

Matt and Eric brought the Cheese to China after the Christmas holiday. "I believe it was more than 10 Kg in total and it's a miracle that (airport security) didn't stop me with that stuff, which resembles plastic explosives in its consistency," commented Eric who travelled though London and Hong Kong.

The standard "faux pas" when eating Swiss fondue is to lose your bread while you stir. However, during the January 15 event CEIBS students proved to be very skilled at hanging onto their bread. To the organizers' astonishment (and amusement) many students began to add their own twist to the new culinary experience: "Some started to dunk broccoli and dumplings into the cheese and others mixed the cheese with chocolate. I guess it' s in the nature of CEIBS students to innovate and explore uncharted territory" said Matt.

In addition to the fondue experience, students were treated to Swiss folk music, Eric presented some facts about Switzerland and a collection of pictures to show his personal view of his homeland.

All in all, the event was a success. "We hope to see more events of this kind in the future. There are plenty of countries and cultures represented by the student body and the culinary curiosity is very high," said one of the students who attended.

(Written by MBA2007 students Matthias Heubi and Eric Schreiber)