Ruta de la Plata

Traditional cuisine is marked by the village way of life. In the days of our ancestors, life revolved around the casería or farmstead (house, stable, hórreo or raised corncrib and vegetable garden).

The diet was based on produce of the land (spelt wheat, corn, potatoes, greens, peas, dried beans, green beans). The consumption of meat was guaranteed by breeding pigs (meat, cured sausage meats), chickens and rabbits being bred less. Livestock was, above all, cattle, to obtain milk and its derivates (butter, cheese). Fowl supplied eggs. Bread was the basis of the diet. Likewise, the produce of nature was also consumed: fruits and nuts and honey.

The magic hands of the women made exquisite, age-old dishes, like: les fariñes (boiled milk and flour), las boroñas (bread made from cornflour), los tortos (wheat flour dough) and boiled or roast chestnuts. The typical dishes combine vegetables and meats, such as el pote (dried beans, potatoes, greens, meat and cured sausage meats). The well-known pies and bollos preñaos (bread stuffed with chorizo, a spicy cured sausage) are a must to take on an Asturian romería (religious procession followed by an outdoor meal and festivities). But it is spelt wheat bread that is the most appreciated, as this cereal is now so sparsely cultivated. The sweet spot in our cooking is made up of: rice pudding, pancakes, casadiellas (fried hazlenut- or walnut-filled pastries), borrachinos (bread, milk, eggs and sugar) and shortbreads.

Today the cuisine of L.lena /Lena is greatly influenced by this dietary tradition, with quality brands such a flavoursome, free-range chicken or cattle bred on our mountainsides and in our valleys. Special mention must be made of la espicha, as it combines both festive and gastronomic elements. It is a party that is held to taste cider, and where traditional foodstuffs are savoured.

In the gastronomic feast of El Cordero (Lamb), declared of National Touristic Interest in 1984, the visitor may savour lamb done on the spit (whole roasted lambs that require the skill of the roaster and the quality of the ajís or marinades to guarantee success) and enjoy an Asturian romería. It is celebrated on the first Sunday of the month of July in the field known as Prau L.laguezos, on the borders of the boroughs of Lena/ L.lena and Quirós.

One of the outstanding acts that takes place is the awarding of plaques to the güelos (grandfather and grandmother) of LAramo. In the fiestas of Les Feries (October), there is a traditional tripe-tasting event in homes as well as restaurants and the Honey Fair. The winter season could not go by without the gastronomic events that the restaurateurs of the borough organize to delight the palate. On the third weekend of November, the Gastronomic Event known as the Jornadas Gastronómicas Castaño de Lena permits the visitor to La Pola/Pola de Lena to savour a very old, traditional dish Chestnut Stew. The traditional Amagüestu takes place on the same weekend; this is a feast held when chestnuts are in season in which they are eaten roasted and washed down with cider. And in Lent Carnival, the visitor to the town may try freshly made pork products (ears, trotters, spicy loose sausage meat) in the Jornadas de la Matanza, during the weekends of February.

More information in: Festivals and Cultural Events