Asturian restaurants in Paris France?

[oleglipkin]

I cant find a restaurant serving Asturies cuisine in Paris even though I'm sure there must be several of them. How come none of the best restaurants in Paris serve this type of cuisine ? Is there more such restaurants in Tokyo, the culinary capital of the world ?

[is]

Hmm, interesting question, Oleglipkin. I recently moved from Washington DC to Paris and have had no time to look for Asturian restaurants here. As you point out, I'm sure they exist. I've heard of Galician, Basque and Catalan restaurants. But I just don't know about Asturian places. Let me do a little research on Google this weekend. Are you Russian, by the way?

[oleglipkin]

Thanks a lot for looking. I do have Russian roots and tend to spend more time there these days.

[Bob]

You may wish to explore the Asturian children who escaped to Russian during the guerra civil.

[is]

You may wish to explore the Asturian children who escaped to Russian during the guerra civil.

Absolutely! That's a fascinating story, Bob. I'm surprised you've heard of it. My grandmother, after returning to Asturias from exile in France following Franco's death, had a neighbor called Conchita across the courtyard. Conchita's parents were Asturian. But she had left Asturias for Russia after the region fell to the Fascist troops that invaded from both Galicia and Navarre.

Whenever we visited our grandmother, Conchita, who had returned from the Soviet Union, would sometimes use Russian in the kitchen and we would overhear her. I later learned Russian in college and came back to visit my grandmother only to find myself understanding everything in that kitchen. Funny and odd. I began to practice Russian across the clothes line. As well as understanding what was going on in the kitchen with her then-husband...

When I worked in Moscow 2004-05, I visited the association of Republican Spaniards there, an old Soviet-era apartment near Kitai Gorod (Chinatown) where they had a functional bar and a room for chorus practice. I remember speaking to an old man who had left Valencia as a child and spoke in Russian with a Ukrainian accent (he was from Kiev). He promised to introduce me to a famous Asturian 'nino de la guerra' [wartime child], originally from County Ibias.

Sadly, I never returned. But some of you may find this piece of trivia interesting. The famous Soviet cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, first woman to travel into space, was half-Asturian...

[Bob]

We are all immersed in multpile networks. One of mine is a group of niños de la guerra who originally came to the EEUU (Corsino, for example). I've been involved with them for quite a while, even to the point of editing one of their stories for a book that will be published later this mornth both in English and in castellano. This led to many other people, including an elderly man who fought on the right side in the guerra and a group of niños who went to Russia.

There are so many stories that deserve to be told. If we can't remember this kind of personal history, we are surely doomed to repeat the horrendous decisions that will cause much more such suffering.

[is]

Thanks a lot for looking. I do have Russian roots and tend to spend more time there these days.

Davaite pogovorim na russkom, Oleg! I dobro pozholovat! Mogu vam posovetovat neskolko restaranov v Parizhe. No poka ne uveren, esli u nas zdies nastoyashie asturianskie mest.

Esli mozhno, zachem vash interes? Ya po polovinu asturianets i amerikanets, no rabotal v Moskve 2 goda i ochen skuchaiu pro Rossiu (moya podruga bila russkaya).

s uvazheniem,

Pasha

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transl. Is

Let's speak in Russian, Oleg. And welcome to the forum. I can give you a few tips about restaurants in Paris. But I'm not yet sure if we have real Asturian grazing grounds here.

If I may ask, why are you interested? I'm half-American and half-Asturian, but I worked in Moscow two years and often miss Russia (my girlfriend was Russian).

Respectfully yours,

Pasha

[oleglipkin]

Kaniechna, Brat... Speaking of the Spanish war, we get more insider details with the KGB files and the information agencies there in Moscow, and I'm surprised it's not discussed in Western Europe. There was indeed a push at the time from the Soviet Union to take over Spain through its violent offshoots, many of them posing today as freedom heroes and republicans, and from what we learned, the Franco people seem to have been closer to the Russian heroes fighting bolshevick thugs than to the usual-suspects-fascists that the pro-Stalin people try to depict. In Russia we have deconstructed the revolutionary myths but Europe seems to have a hard time facing its ghosts and failed dreams.
I raise a glass of Samogon to our Holy Russia !

[Art]

There was indeed a push from the Soviet Union to take over Spain through it violent offshoots, posing today as freedom heroes, and from what we learned, Franco people seem closer to the Russian heroes fighting bolshevick thugs than from the usual fascists that the pro-Stalin people try to depict.

Oleg, it would be interesting to hear more about this. What can you tell us?

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Oleg, sería interesante oír más de este tema. ¿Qué puedes decirnos?

[oleglipkin]

Read this and this, the sources in Moscow are still partly classified.

[Art]

Wow, that's an amazing story of treachery. Stalin must have been much worse than I realized. Thanks, Oleg

... and now we return to the restaurants in Paris....

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Vaya, es una impresionante historia de traición. Stalin debe haber sido mucho peor que me di cuenta. Gracias, Oleg.

,,, y ahora regresamos a los restaurantes de Paris ,,,

[is]

There are so many stories that deserve to be told. If we can't remember this kind of personal history, we are surely doomed to repeat the horrendous decisions that will cause much more such suffering.

Absolutely, Bob. They need to be told intelligently and constructively. I always learn better when a story comes to life with small, offbeat details. That's the way film scripts and novels work too. Cinematographers will often tell you thag God is in the details.

The problem in contemporary Asturias, in my opinion, is that reporters in mainstream media work with th easy/moronic stereotype for things they should have intimate knowledge about. It's as if their education has nipped creativity in the bud and left them with nothing more than with a telegraphic capacity.

In the case of the Republican children shipped to Moscow in 1937-8, they are certainly untold stories. But after meeting Conchita, the Asturian-Russian, at my grandmother's I began to notice other Russian-Asturians in the smallest villages, even in Quintueles, outside of Xixon/Gijon. Fascinating indeed...

[is]

Kaniechna, Brat... There was indeed a push at the time from the Soviet Union to take over Spain through its violent offshoots, many of them posing today as freedom heroes and republicans...I raise a glass of Samogon to our Holy Russia !

Spasibo vam, Oleg. Ochen priatno s vami poznokomitsa. Ya videl ssilku s FSB sevodnya na rabote i prishlos smeyotsa! Takie u nas vremena v Rossii!

Shto kasaetsa samagon, vi znaete, u nas v Volokolomske na dache velikolepnii samogon! Togda, popim na vashe zdorovie!

Na budushei nedele pogovorim dalshe po povodu asturianskiikh restoranov v Parizhe. Ya bi khotel vas priglasit!

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trans. Is

Thanks, Oleg. A pleasure to meet you. I saw the link you sent to the FSB today at work and had to laugh out loud. Such are the times in our Russia!

About samogon, we had great naturally distilled berry vodka at the dacha in Volokolomsk, outside of Moscow. So I drink to your health!

Next week we should further discuss the Asturian restaurants here in Paris. I'd like to invite you to one of them if we find one.