Store

Basque-American Foodways

Diaspora

Nevada, Idaho, California, Oregon and Wyoming: men recruited as sheepherders from the 1850s, the boarding houses — ostatuak — that housed them between seasons, and the family-style dining rooms those became: soup, salad, beans, a pitcher of red wine, lamb or steak, all shared at long tables. ⚠ THIS IS ITS OWN CUISINE. Picon punch was invented in the American West, not in Europe, and the boarding-house menu is an American form.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Basque-Americans community documented

Languages: Basque

What is recorded

  • Basque-American food is its own tradition, formed in boarding houses in the American West from the 1850s. The family-style menu and Picon punch are American forms; it is related to Basque foodways in Europe and is not identical to it. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • migrated to American documented

    Sheepherding recruitment to Nevada, Idaho and California produced boarding houses and a distinct Basque-American table.

Regional cuisines

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.