Homeland of the Ice Cream Sellers

"I met Xavier by chance, while travelling together. That encounter opened the door to a largely unknown European memory: the epic of the 'pasiegos', who went on to become one of the most influential communities in the world of French ice-cream. From Cantabria's Pasiego valleys, where life revolved around cattle and milk, thousands of men and women set out on a journey in the quest for an uncertain future, putting their fate in the hands of destiny. Some built huge empires and went as far as to sponsor the Tour de France; others left a legacy of such value that it enabled their children to enjoy a better life. Through Xavier, and as his father comes to the end of his life, I set out on a journey to find the memory of those families. A journey ending with the return of hundreds of descendants to the land of their ancestors, where for the first time in more than a century, the families of ice-cream makers will meet as never before, in search of a shared homeland". (Maite Vitoria Daneris)