Talo is a flatbread traditionally made from varieties of stone-milled corn found only in Basque country. It commonly accompanies sarteneko, a traditional Basque skillet dish of farm products such as chorizo, bacon, and eggs.

My time as an intern this summer was spent exploring the Smithsonian Folklife Festival through the lens of a camera

During the Folklife Festival, I found myself repeatedly drawn to the Basque pottery tent where ceramicist Blanka Gomez de Segura worked through each day on her wheel.

When people play sports at the frontoia, the community comes together. As the center of cultural life in the Basque country, the frontoia (pilota handball court) is a place not only to watch games but to participate.

Learning the limitations of any particular stone is a skill that only comes from pushing the boundaries. Bernat Vidal, a stone carver from Basque country, has learned how to expertly read a stone, even characterize its personality.

Bakailaoa pil-pilean is perhaps the Basque country’s best known dish. The recipe itself is simple, but the dish is not easy to make.

Every time there was a rural sports demonstration at the Folklife Festival’s Frontoia, or Basque handball court, you could hear cheers of “aupa neskak!”—let’s go, girls!

The western edge of the Basque: Innovation by Culture program at the 2016 Folklife Festival took visitors straight into Portua, or “the port.”

In 2014, the family sold 600 grams (1.3 pounds) of their Basque Idiazabal cheese for €13,050, or approximately $14,000.

Jesus Mari Lazkano is a professor at the University of the Basque Country and outdoor enthusiast known for his fantastic surrealist landscape paintings inspired by the Basque landscapes he encounters on a daily basis.