A fading tradition in California.

[Dinner]

Kern County at the southern end of California's central valley has some beautiful scenery but is generally a rather poor and rural part of the state. One of the few things I really liked when visiting there was the vibrant Basque culture found in the area as many Basques from Spain and France settled in that region during the first decades of the 20th century. The Basque festival there is legendary with lots of lamb, sea food, wine & cider, and lots of aged sheep's milk cheese. I also ate at the one and only Basque restaurant I've ever been to there and I must say the food was really good; kind of a combo of French and Spanish food with it's own twist. Sadly, the Basque tradition is slowly fading away and being replaced my newer immigrant groups mostly from South America and Asia.

Still these photos from the BBC are kind of cool to look at.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/08/americas_california0s_basque_shepherds/html/1.stm

[-Jrabbit]

Interesting. I had no idea there was a Basque enclave in the US. My wife is fascinated by the Basques, whose language is -- very oddly considering the location -- not of Indoeuropean origin. Sort of a dead end on the linguistic family tree.

We might have to check this out on or next trip West.

[Dinner]

Reno, NV also has a fairly large Basque community.

[Zkribbler]

And I believe Montana, where there are lots of Basque shepards.

Decades ago, I worked with an American-Basque lady. Her brother was travelling through Europe, and when he traveled through the Basque region, he was treated like a king when people found out he was an American. When the found out he was of Basque descent, he was treated like an Emperor.

[chequita guevara]

There were a lot of Basques in Florida too, as we have their national game, jai lai. Awesome but sadly, also dying.

[Unimatrix11]

About the language: I would guess (!), that it is of celtic origin, like gaelic? It´s funny though, and i wonder if the people you are with would take objection in it, how you say, the food is a mix of french and spanish food. Cause, as you probably know, there is quite a surge for independence among some basques (including terror-groups - the strike in Madrid 2004 (?) was first linked to them) and i guess some wouldnt like to have their culture (or parts of it) described as a mix of french and spanish. Not speaking for them, just wondering and guessing...

[Dauphin]

Celtic is Indo-European. Basque isn't.

[Unimatrix11]

oops - not my day today. you are right, dauphin. After looking it up, it indeed seems unique. How can a language evolve isolated like this, when it´s geography really isnt that isolated at all? I mean, i could understand it, if it was in some swiss mountain valley or an Island or somesuch...

[Dinner]

They say Basques are the sole remaining remnants of the European population before the Indo-European expansion out of central Asia. The Indo-Europeans were supposedly the first people to domesticate horses so they used their horses to conquer massive amounts of territory and expand like crazy during pre-history.

BTW I said their food not their culture was a mixture of Spanish and French.

[Unimatrix11]

Tell them, THEY were a mix of french and spanish.

Still, being the last remnant doesnt quite explain how they resisted assimilation for so long. Reminds me of ´Asterix´. Say, you couldnt tear out trees after that meal, could you?

[Dinner]

They're a mountain people who held out because they were the farthest away from the source of the Indo-European expansion and because they took refuge in the mountains. The world is full of mountain cultures which have successfully held out against the tide of new invaders.

[Dauphin]

Idahoans.

[OzzyKP]

Idahoans.

On my epic cross-country road trip in 2000 I stopped through Boisie, Idaho and they seemed to have a big Basque population there. There was a Basque festival going on while I was there.

According to Wikipedia:

The largest concentration of Basque Americans is in the Boise, Idaho, area, where approximately 15,000 Basque Americans live.[6] Boise is home of the Basque Museum and Cultural Center and hosts a large Basque festival known as Jaialdi every five years. A large majority of the Boise Basque community traces its ancestry to Biscay in northern Spain [1].

Other significant Basque populations in the United States are located in Reno, Nevada, and the Central Valley region of California. Reno is home to the nation's only Basque Studies Department at the University of Nevada.

[Winston]

Even if the tradition is fading, we can still bask in the glory of how it used to be.

[jsorense]

Can a fading Californian bask in the glory of olive oil?