Oral History Interview with Robert Stupar

BARBARA DRUMMOND: Shelly Drummond. It is July 29th, 1998. And I am at the Brickyard Cafe with Robert Stupar, right? Um, who's Croatian and is opening a restaurant with his partner. Um, Robert would you tell uh, pronounce your hometown again. Rijeka?

ROBERT STUPAR: Rijeka.

DRUMMOND: Rijeka. Okay. Um, describe your hometown. Just a little bit.

STUPAR: My hometown it's placed on very uh, very top of the Adriatic Sea and um, Eastern Coast that belongs to Croatia. It's a big port. It's a geographically it's one hour down from, one hour east from Trieste which is also big port on Adriatic Sea in Italy. Um, has about 200,000 people, population, and uh, very historical. It's uh, beautiful and (indeterminable).

DRUMMOND: (indeterminable). Um, what did you do when you were there?

STUPAR: Is that alright? Turn it down (talking to someone else).

DRUMMOND: Is it okay? It's okay? Sorry (laughs). Um, it's just because of the tape because...

STUPAR: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: It's import--because somebody's going to have to listen to it.

STUPAR: It's going to be a lot of voices here, in and out.

DRUMMOND: That's okay.

STUPAR: Kids.

DRUMMOND: It's okay. Hello (laughs). Um, what did you do when you were there?

STUPAR: Um...

DRUMMOND: What were you doing?

STUPAR: Well, you know went to school. After school went to the army. After army I started working at the bakery for about maybe four months. Went back to the army. I was drafted again. Then after that I came here.

DRUMMOND: How did you--hi. I'll just pause it, yeah. Okay, we're back again. Um, 2:00alright, so you were bake--you started baking.

STUPAR: Yes.

DRUMMOND: In Croatia.

STUPAR: Right.

DRUMMOND: What inspired you to start baking?

STUPAR: Not, it was not a matter of inspiration I just did not have uh, any other chance for some other kind of employment because it was like a war time.

DRUMMOND: Mhmm.

STUPAR: And uh, that's what I did.

DRUMMOND: Who taught you how to bake?

STUPAR: Uh, maybe two or three people, you know. You just go from bakery to bakery and you just pick up a little bit in each of them. And you know, we read books and you know, it's--I didn't go to school for it.

DRUMMOND: Mmm. Did um, what would you rather have done?

STUPAR: Um, well everything--right now everything turned out very good for me so 3:00you know, maybe I would go to school instead but it was like different time over there and I would probably back there if it was peace time I would probably go to school. Go to uh, college.

DRUMMOND: Mhmm. Um, how did you come to Bowling Green?

STUPAR: I come, well I applied to come here uh, in uh, interna--in uh, American Embassy. And uh, they liked it and you know, that's how I got here. And you know, they have a (indeterminable) they send people uh, they have a (indeterminable) they send people all over the USA wherever they can get jobs or they can you know, work. If they have relatives or you know. And I got here.

DRUMMOND: So they, they sent you here. So it's not a choice?

STUPAR: It was, no it was--well, I was um, it was not a choice because I had a 4:00relative here. And uh, I knew that he was here and that's how I got here.

DRUMMOND: Mhmm.

STUPAR: But he got here just by accident, so....

DRUMMOND: What were you expecting Bowling Green to be like before you came?

STUPAR: Uh, I uh, I did--it was very few information that I could have got in like, books and stuff. I was expecting--I didn't have a clue. I was expecting Southern town. I didn't even know a lot about Kentucky I just knew that there's a lot of whiskey, bourbon (laughs), tobacco and that it's kind of like you know, that it belongs to South. I had a feeling that it's going to be like, this size of town. I didn't know nothing else. I was just you know, I was just expecting something new and something I've never experienced before. And that's what actually happened.

(00:05:09)

DRUMMOND: Yeah. It's smaller than your hometown?

STUPAR: Yeah it's probably spread out as much as my hometown, but it's probably 5:00four times less you know, dense, populated as it is over there.

DRUMMOND: And you moved here in what year?

STUPAR: 1994. December.

DRUMMOND: December. Um, so you had somebody meet you here that was a family member? So that was helpful, I mean...

STUPAR: Yes. That was my uh, ex-brother-in-law. I was married to a girl and we came over and it didn't work out and uh, and after a year we split up and you know, we're divorced. And uh, you know, we're still friends, still talk to each other. She's still here in Bowling Green.

DRUMMOND: Mhmm. So um, how about like your, the rest of your family? Have they....

STUPAR: Uh, they're back home in Rijeka uh, my father is retired. Uh, my mom is a nurse uh, she's still working. My sister is living with them. She's about--what--30, she will be 33 here. She's uh, she's an accountant for a local company.

DRUMMOND: Mhmm. Okay, the first day you got here, what do you remember the most? When you first got here?

STUPAR: What I remember the most? I remember uh, waking up in Clay Street in Bowling Green which is a very bad part of town. And uh, I walked out it was kind of cold and uh, I remember like, the scene of that street, you know. Like little houses, lot of trash on the streets. Cars. Black people walking around, which 7:00was like very you know, new for me. I've never you know, seen like black people walking on the streets. And uh, um, just the feeling of being an American, you know. That's, waking up in America.

DRUMMOND: Yeah. Um, was it--this was your family member's house that you were in?

STUPAR: Yes, yes, yes. We were staying in uh, my ex-brother-in-law's place.

DRUMMOND: Okay. Did--when did you get your own place?

STUPAR: In about uh, three months.

DRUMMOND: And what is a house or an apartment?

STUPAR: It was uh, it was an apartment on uh, Rock Creek Drive, Greenhaven Apartments. Very nice. You know, we had a pool. It was, you know it was like a big step.

DRUMMOND: Mhmm. Was it a lot different from you home, or?

STUPAR: Mmm, well yeah, it was kind of.... It was, in a way it was like the apartment by itself was just about the same, you know. It just, you know, I had a tennis court and I had a pool right there....

DRUMMOND: Wow (laughs).

STUPAR: ....so it was, that was a big change.

DRUMMOND: Yeah. Did uh, do you miss your home?

STUPAR: Yeah, I miss it a lot. I think about it pretty much everyday.

DRUMMOND: Yeah. Yeah. Could you speak English when you first got to Bowling Green?

STUPAR: Uh, I was taking English ever since I was um, let me see, eleven or twelve. And it was like, I'd say two hours a week. And um, I knew a lot of basics. I knew of like, theoretical English but I never had a chance to communicate with you know, English or Americans. And uh, when I came here that 9:00was a big problem for me, you know. I understood people but I couldn't express myself.

DRUMMOND: Mhmm.

STUPAR: And uh, I learned a lot, you know. Let's say I knew ten percent of what I know right now.

DRUMMOND: Right. Did um, did it affect your ability to get a job, or to get, to get around to buy food?

STUPAR: Yeah, yeah, but that's something you just have to you know, fight with everyday you know, you just have to deal with the shame of not knowing. And you know, you--yeah it did affect you know, my first year or first two years. It still affects me you know, in some situations. Even know after two and a half year.

DRUMMOND: What's the hardest, what are some of the worst situations?

STUPAR: Um, not understanding what people are trying to tell you. Or uh, in some, or like uh, not understanding when somebody talks about you over there, 10:00two people are talking something and you think they're talking about you and you don't know what are they saying or you know, just the feeling of not being able to express yourself, you know. Just very frustrating.

(00:10:25)

DRUMMOND: Do you think people were fairly tolerant about the fact that you, you didn't speak English as a first language when you got here, or?

STUPAR: Yeah, they were very tolerant. They were uh, they were okay. You know, most of the people are trying to talk slower to you or uh, you know. It was alright, it was alright. It was--it's not perfect but I guess it's better than 11:00in some European countries where it's very, very you know, much more uh, I don't know how to express it. Uh, they don't care. They just want you to talk their language, you know.

DRUMMOND: How about driving?

STUPAR: I didn't know how to drive.

DRUMMOND: So you had to learn to drive?

STUPAR: I had learn. That was, shew. That was big problem. See my hometown uh, there is no big thing, or big need to learn to drive. You have bus lines every five minutes, you know. Only thing when you need you car is when you going out Saturday night you know, or something like that. But uh, yeah I came here and I had to learn how to drive, you know. But I did.

DRUMMOND: How did you do that? (laughs)

STUPAR: I don't know it was just hard. People didn't want to you know, help me you know, I was just (laughs) I was hard to learn to drive. It's mostly--I don't know, I was, I'd like to, I was just rushing too much you know, I was speeding 12:00and you know, stuff like that.

DRUMMOND: (laughs)

STUPAR: Not stopping at the stop sign, you know.

DRUMMOND: Did you get pulled over?

STUPAR: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: (laughs)

STUPAR: Three times, after I got the license.

DRUMMOND: Um, okay. I had.... Alright, how about shopping. We talked a little bit about doing things, but just general shopping, picking stuff up, for like buying food. Or you were married, did your wife, your wife was buying the food or did you buy food?

STUPAR: I was mostly buying food. Um, okay, I didn't understand that.

DRUMMOND: Oh, that's okay, that's okay. You just tell me if you don't. Um, I have talked to people who have had a hard time find out what--like if they went 13:00to the grocery store and it would say "baking soda," they were looking for baking soda. But it was a different word and they couldn't figure it out. They were just, they just had a hard time finding items in the stores.

STUPAR: Yeah. Well you know, um, I, I just um, I was, I like to read a lot and there was like no problem for me. I kind of, like I told you I knew a lot of, I understood a lot of English. I just didn't know how to talk. So I pretty much knew you know, what is what up on the shelves you know, except like very American products like pork and beans or you know, I don't know (laughs) you know, stuff like that. You know, or what kind of cook--different kind of cookies. But you, as far as bread or pasta or pork, beef you know, those kind of easy. Plus I like to experiment you know, so I was just like buying all, all that I, got my hands on.

DRUMMOND: Which were some of your favorite ones? Did you like the pork and beans?

STUPAR: Oh, I started, actually I started to like them after I uh, started 14:00working in the barbecue restaurant. So, you know I was like, I really liked, liked it. Um...

DRUMMOND: You have to fix them up. You can't just...

STUPAR: You have to fix them up, yeah.

DRUMMOND: Yeah, yeah. (laughs)

STUPAR: You have to put like stuff in it.

DRUMMOND: (laughs)

STUPAR: Yeah. I had good teachers over there, you know. Good cooks real, real soul food cooks, you know. And they, they taught me. I know how to barbecue good.

DRUMMOND: Where was this?

STUPAR: It was like a little barbecue place on bypass. Daryl's BBQ and Bakery and uh....

DRUMMOND: What what the name again?

STUPAR: Daryl's BBQ and Bakery.

DRUMMOND: Was this your first job that you had?

STUPAR: No, my first job was at Bread and Bagels, Bread and Bagels.

DRUMMOND: Oh, the Bread and Bagels?

STUPAR: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: And you're baking there, too?

STUPAR: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: Okay, when you came--and this will be--were there a lot of Bosnians or 15:00Croatians here at that time? How many?

(00:15:01)

STUPAR: Um, it was mo--uh like, ten families.

DRUMMOND: Ten families.

STUPAR: I was--let's say like ten to eleven.

DRUMMOND: Okay. And right now about how many would you assume?

STUPAR: It's, it's just there's different people say different things. Some, some say that it's two thousand, some say it's fifteen hundred, some say it's thirteen--let's, let's put the middle figure, you know.

DRUMMOND: Yeah, so...

STUPAR: Fifteen, sixteen...

DRUMMOND: So it's grown a lot?

STUPAR: It's grown a lot.

DRUMMOND: Since you came.

STUPAR: Yeah.

DRUMMOND: Did--at the time, were there like, was there an organization where people maybe get together?

STUPAR: Oh, you mean like Bosnian like, community, or...

DRUMMOND: Yeah, yeah. And maybe have dinners or anything like that?

STUPAR: Mmm, know what, very first time people, it was just ten families and people just used to go from you know, one apartment to another or would go out and barbecue or something like that. And maybe after six or seven months they formed the club.

DRUMMOND: So there's a club now?

STUPAR: There is a Bosnia club now. But most of uh, probably 99% percent these people are from Bosnia, I'm probably the only one from Croatia.

DRUMMOND: Uh-huh.

STUPAR: You know, I came here because my wife was Muslim.

DRUMMOND: Oh, okay.

STUPAR: So you know, very--I, I'm not very good representative of the Bosnian community here, but I know about them and, you know.

DRUMMOND: Yeah. Did um, did everybody live in the same area or did they move all across Bowling Green?

STUPAR: Mostly they uh, live uh, right now, I would say they live around uh, Morgantown Road, Old Morgantown Road uh, up to Rock Creek Drive. That's most--and there's lot of people, lately there's some family downtown.

DRUMMOND: Mhmm. Okay, um. So if you were to go back, what would you miss the 17:00most about Bowling Green?

STUPAR: What would I miss about Bowling Green? I would miss people who I've met here, met a lot of good friends. Um, I would miss uh, I don't know (indeterminable), I would miss uh, Baker's Street. I don't know, you know. Bowling Green is alright you know, it's just not what I want to do all my life or--I don't know it's just hard to say.

DS: What do you want to do?

STUPAR: Um, actually I would like to live in Bowling Green maybe after I turn 35 or something, you know. Kind of want to settle down. Right now Bowling Green is just too small for me, you know.

DS: Mhmm.

STUPAR: I'd like to get some money and go somewhere else and then go somewhere again. Just travel around.

DS: Mhmm. What would you--in terms of like Bowling Green um, what would you say 18:00would be like some problems that Bowling Green has?

STUPAR: Problems? Um, ummm.... There's uh, people are very narrow, they're very friendly to be honest, they're very friendly and nice. But uh, a lot of times they are very narrow. They do not understand other people's cultures. They don't have a perception of what's going on and how they're.... And uh, that's probably one of the biggest problems, you know. Uh... You know, problems of Bowling Green 19:00um, I don't see any other problems, you know. Maybe, I'm just not used to such social differences as I've seen here but it's probably all American type of thing, you know. Because I came from uh, well I came from, it was not communist country when I left, but you know, I grew up in community country. But uh, I've you know, I've noticed big social differences here and uh, you know, there's a lot of people you know, hungry out on the streets not having enough money to pay their bills. And there's on the other side, there's this huge population of the people you know, with over a million dollars and they (indeterminable) so, uh.... But I guess that's the way America works, you know. It's made out that way, you know. It's uh, gives you better, gives you motive to work hard.

DS: You think....

STUPAR: I don't want to get into that, you know.

DS: That's okay.

(00:20:00)

STUPAR: It's just, it just my, my, my noticing of what I've seen here.

DS: Yeah, yeah. And what would be some of the better parts of Bowling Green?

STUPAR: Better parts? Better parts are uh, a lot of chances, a lot of things you can do, a lot of--it's very prosperous, you know. It's uh, it's growing fast um... That's about it. There's big chance in Bowling Green for everybody. Like if you want to work, if you have an idea, you know. It's (indeterminable).

DS: Mmm. Well let's talk about the restaurant. Um, you already knew how to cook, we already talked about the baking. Um, what kinds of, what kinds of food were 21:00you baking--just breads, right? Or...

STUPAR: Yeah, I'm not professional cook, or I--yeah. So far I could say I'm pretty good baker you know, for like three years of experience and without school. Yeah I, I can cook mostly breads and uh, some, some pastries. And uh, that's about it. Breads and pastries, you know.

DS: And these were some that you learned from, in Croatia or here? Both?

STUPAR: Some in Croatia. It was mostly here, it was mostly here.

DS: Okay.

STUPAR: I worked there only for like maybe ten months.

DS: Mhmm. Did you ever use any of the recipes you learned over there here? Is it different?

STUPAR: I used, I use--I didn't have--I didn't know any recipes but um, I use, I used a lot of technology, you know. Because I over there I worked in uh, two 22:00bakeries and I, they were like pretty big. Recipes are actually not hard to produce you know, you can find good recipe and you know, there's a lot of books out there. It's just how to make things faster.

DS: Oh.

STUPAR: And that's what I brought from home, you know. That's why I think I'm good with you know, how to do things faster or how to produce things faster. And, and that's very important in baking.

DS: Because the Bread and Bagel is a smaller place than where you were working at before.

STUPAR: Much, yeah, much smaller.

DS: Okay. Um, so here, you've got, tell us about the brick oven.

STUPAR: Brick?

DS: Yeah. Or just tell me about your restaurant.

STUPAR: The restaurant well, the restaurant is mostly the replica of what, what my partner had back in Bosnia. His name is Jake, he have uh, Americanized Jake. He had uh, kind of like pizzeria over there and uh, mostly all the brickwork he's uh, his idea from, from his restaurant uh, the woodwork that's uh, very big 23:00uh, it's very popular thing in a lot of places over there. Like the wooden roofs on top of the tables. So you know, we kind of combined those two things. Uh, it's going to be small place, but you know, we wanted to keep it small. It's going to be a lot of good homemade food, which probably what Bowling Green needs these days. And uh, we're going to cook Italian because that's something you know, people can recognize with here, and because it's more or less something that we you know, grew up on over there, you know. It's, Italy's like--my 24:00hometown is actually part of Italy back in uh, back before Second World War. So, we have the brick oven. There's one more in Bowling Green but our pizza's going to be better.

DS: (laughs) Who's got the other one?

STUPAR: Mariah's.

DS: Oh, Mariah's has a brick oven? I didn't know that.

STUPAR: Yeah. Um, we're, we're going to, what we're going to do here, we'd like to uh--learn people here or we'd like to you know, be more valuable to the people. We'd like people to hang out here, to have fun, to you know, to come out here to see people and to be seen. Uh, we'd like this place to be like the social place, you know. We don't want to you know, just open up restaurant and be like, four turnovers in, in, for one lunch, you know. We just want people to have fun-filled--huh? (to someone else). Uh, can you pause it?

DS: Yeah, I'm going to pause... Alright we're back again. Um, was it your 25:00partner's idea to start the restaurant? Or how did...

(00:25:00)

STUPAR: It was um, mostly his idea. Um, it was back, I think ninety five, I was um--he was telling me about opening a restaurant ever since he came here, you know. I was uh, helping him with the interpreting. And uh...

DS: With what? The...

STUPAR: Interpreting. You know...

DS: Okay.

STUPAR: ...he didn't know very much English back there. But uh, you know like, it was just a plan, you know. And maybe I, after I start, stopped working in Daryl's, I wanted to open like, a little business for myself. Uh, maybe a little grocery store or something like that for uh, for the Bosnian people are here. You know, just anything. And then uh, Jake uh, first time like, you know, op, 26:00you know openly uh, proposed partnership you know, proposed me a deal. Um, he explained to me what kind of restaurant he had, you know. What kind of restaurant we can open here. And uh, we got on it. Started working, started looking for a location. And uh, here we are now.

DS: And you've got one of the older houses in Bowling Green. This is a historic brick house.

STUPAR: Yeah, yeah. This uh, there is no exact date uh, one of the grandsons of the uh, man who probably built this house says that he was born in the house 1860. And uh, so house was probably made before 1860 and uh, in, in those two rooms back there, the kitchen and the back dining room, they were the you know, the first part of the house. And it uh, the addition was made later with the uh, with the floor upstairs.

DS: Mhmm.

STUPAR: And uh, the guy who did this house was a brick layer of note back in nineteenth century. He was uh, he make, he built the Warren County Courthouse I think.

DS: Oh yeah?

STUPAR: Uh, Bowling Green brick and uh--today it's Bowling Green uh, Bank and Trust building.

DS: Okay.

STUPAR: Which was uh, opera house before I think.

DS: Mhmm.

STUPAR: And some other buildings. And he was also running a brickyard behind the house, so that's how we named the restaurant.

DS: And the stuff that you've done um, what kinds of things did you all do? You put the...

STUPAR: We made...

DS: You've kept some of the rooms the same. Like this woodwork is the original?

STUPAR: Yes, we added on the woodwork, the, the you know, cedar posts.

DS: Mhmm.

STUPAR: And uh, you know, cedar shingles on the top. We had to change the complete, completely change the, the electricity. Put it up to a commercial 28:00code. Same with plumbing. Change the, the ceilings. Uh, completely change those two bathrooms over there. I mean completely uh, all the wood was rotted so we had to like, you know, reframe it and you know, re-drywall it. Put towels on. Uh, all the brickwork is new. All those arches, the brick bar, that's all new. We made that brick oven. So, a lot of work for just two guys working on it part-time. You know, we had to work here for like seven months after our regular jobs, you know. Plus all the alarm stuff.

DS: Mhmm. And these designs. These, the cedar roofs over the tables?

STUPAR: Yeah, yeah.

DS: Um, this is traditional? Like...or, sort of?

STUPAR: It's, it's not traditional, it's just kind of like very in, you know, a lot of places. Lot of pizzerias actually have that...

DS: Okay.

STUPAR: ...that style over there.

DS: In Bosnia. And the paintings? The little paintings?

STUPAR: The paintings, that's just an idea from uh, my friend Chris, Christopher (indeterminable). He, he did a lot of, his....his uh, his little paintings and drawings and there's a (indeterminable) over there in that bar area. He did help us with you know, some, some decorating ideas (indeterminable).

DS: And the front, um.

STUPAR: Front...

DS: What do you call that? The...

STUPAR: That's like a canopy. I don't even know how to call it. Actually it was, that was Chris's idea.

DS: Uh-huh.

STUPAR: He uh, rec, he was uh, telling is about uh, awning that we would 30:00probably need to put up.

DS: Mhmm.

STUPAR: And we chose to use that, you know. It was kind of--the awning's are very expensive and here all we have to pay for is, you know, our labor and something.

(00:30:08)

DS: Mhmm.

STUPAR: And the, the wood posts and all the woodwork is, you know, we got that for, from farms so...kind of cheap.

DS: Okay. Um, what kind of food are--you've talked about the fact that you'll be serving Italian food, but you'll also be serving like Bosnian food, too?

STUPAR: We might have uh, dish or two. You know, just let people know that we are from Bosnia, and uh, we're not--maybe it will be more with the time, you know. But for start, we'll just keep it down to one, one or two dishes.

DS: Mhmm. Will you ever have special dinners for um, Bosnian...

STUPAR: Yeah, you know...

DS: ...Like a special night, or?

STUPAR: If uh, we don't have a concept yet. If somebody wants to sell 31:00(indeterminable) here, you know, yeah it's alright. You know, things like that. This place is too very small, you know, so. But you know, if Bosnian Club wants to have a meeting where they all meet together....

DS: Mhmm.

STUPAR: They're more than welcome.

DS: Um, how is--do you eat Bosnian food now? Or Croatian food...

STUPAR: Yeah.

DS: ...for you. Do you eat Croatian?

STUPAR: Yeah.

DS: Are they different?

STUPAR: It's...

DS: How are they different?

STUPAR: (laughs) You see...

DS: (laughs) I know it's so hard.

STUPAR: Yeah. You see, it's like uh, there is no uh, specific or, you know, Bosnian or Croatian food. It's, it depends on the region where you're from. Our country is rural, uh, being influenced or being, you know, under some other big European, or, country. Um, like my part of Croatia or part of Bosnia where 32:00Jake's wife is from was uh, always close to Italy and uh, there's a lot of Italian food over there. Um, up north you'll probably find a lot of Austrian or German stuff. Um, in Bosnia you'd probably find a lot of um, oriental or Turkish food, you know. And then after the World War II, after we, you know, all became Yugoslavia, all those food starts to mix together, blend. So you know, there is no typical dishes, you know. But, that's (indeterminable).

DS: Okay. Um, so now in Bowling Green, what do you choose to eat? If you go, if you make food, what do you make?

STUPAR: Okay, now, right now, I make uh, I make pasta, rice, risotto, that's 33:00Italian. Rice, I make uh, uh, brodetto, which is uh, like fish soup, in fish stew in wine. Um, I, lot of times I go eat with Jake in his house because it's, you know, much easier for him to cook for all of us or for his wife, and she cooks a lot of Bosnian food. We cook out a lot, you know, like shish kabobs or uh, little meat rolls which will be probably very famous if we start cook them here. They're like uh, hamburger beef rolled in like uh, like a little um, roll and then grilled and served with pita bread, which is called different in Bosnian. You know, that's pretty much about it.

DS: So the ingredients to make this stuff that you're going to make, it's pretty easy to get it, or?

STUPAR: Um, some of them, I wouldn't say that it is. Not, not in the same quality as you would find at home, you know. Especially uh, smoked meats that you want to serve here as an appetizer. Like uh, prosciutto or, or uh, pršut as we call it. Or uh...

DS: What is that?

STUPAR: That's uh, I wouldn't say it's smoked, I would say that it's, it's uh cured and dried Italian ham.

DS: Mhmm, okay.

STUPAR: Or uh, capicola, that's type of, one more type of meat. Italian meat. Or uh, you know mostly saus, some kind of sausages. Or uh, good cheeses. That, that's hard to find. Basic ingredients, you know, you can find them here also. Like rice, flour, oil.

DS: Mhmm. (tape cuts out) Alright, we're on side two now. So, to get the ingredients, how do you think you're going to get them?

(00:35:16)

STUPAR: Already started to calling local uh, food distributing companies.

DS: Mhmm.

STUPAR: Um, they have lot of stuff that we will need. They are kind of expensive. Uh, there is one store up in, up in Louisville. Lots of pasta. We'll have to still buy over there. There are uh, some uh, Bosnian groceries, grocery stores in St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit. You know, for good stuff, you know, we might be, you know, forced to go up there and, you know, maybe have that stuff 36:00uh, sent down here. Um, that's going to be--that's a good question. It's going to be kind of hard.

DS: How do people that are living here now get ahold of stuff that they want? For like a wedding, or?

STUPAR: Yeah, well, there's a new store, you should probably know about it. Golden Key.

DS: Mhmm.

STUPAR: There is--you can buy some stuff here. A lot of people are uh, just trying to forget (indeterminable) learn and they're trying to, you know, you know, they're trying to adjust to uh, you know, to whatever they have here.

DS: Mhmm.

STUPAR: Um, and which, you know which is probably the easiest way, you know. If you can't get it you just, you know, buy something else.

DS: Right, right. Um, you're going to have music here, right?

STUPAR: Um, we are thinking about it. We're thinking about having somebody 37:00playing guitar, or something like that, you know. We--I don't have a concept yet, but we'll probably have somebody once a week or twice a week.

DS: Will it be somebody from Bowling Green, or somebody who's Bosnian? Do they have, do they have any musicians, Bosnian musicians that play?

STUPAR: There's, there's couple of them. But you know, I would like, I would rather have somebody from Bowling Green.

DS: Yeah.

STUPAR: There's a couple of guys that I really like.

DS: Mhmm. But there are a couple of Bosnian musicians here?

STUPAR: Yeah, there are uh, I know for one, you know, he was a music teacher and, you know, but--and there is couple of them, but they mostly play type of music that we wouldn't like to, to have here, you know. Like, kind of like folk, country, Bosnian music. So, you know, we want something softer, (indeterminable) , more you know...

DS: What was the, it was uh, sevdalinka? Sevda...

STUPAR: Sevdalinka.

DS: Sevdalinka.

STUPAR: Yes. That's um, that's a very, that's--Sevdah means song.

DS: Mhmm.

STUPAR: In Turkish. And that's--I would, I would probably, the closest thing to American music is blues. It's very, you know, the songs are very sad, emotional, passionate. Uh, and it's kind of hard to find it these days lately, you know. Everybody's singing more, you know, faster stuff.

DS: And so the musicians that um, that are here in Bowling Green, they sing like that, or?

STUPAR: No, no. They sing uh, like I would say that they sing like country music, Bosnian country music.

DS: Bosnian country music.

STUPAR: Yeah.

DS: Um, let's see. Okay. Do you celebrate any festivals or holiday? Are you going to celebrate any festivals or holidays in the restaurant?

STUPAR: Like in Bosnian?

DS: Yeah. Or Croatian. I guess Bosnian since most people...

STUPAR: Yeah. Hmm.... Pretty much all the Croatian or Bosnian festivals we always celebrate here are probably the same as the American.

DS: Mhmm.

STUPAR: You know uh, Christmas uh, Easter uh, hmm....You know, holidays like that. There is one holiday big in Bosnia uh, first of May which is International Labor Day. Lot of people over there uh, take off, you know, to work and get 40:00together. Strike.

DS: Laughs.

STUPAR: You know. And, there's a lot of Muslim, our Muslim friends and they, you know, celebrate Bajram, which is a some point uh, Muslim Christmas, you know. We might celebrate that. I don't know.

(00:40:17)

DS: Mhmm.

STUPAR: New Year is probably bigger in Bosnia than Christmas.

DS: Yeah.

STUPAR: It's more festive and more fun.

DS: Do people celebrate the Bajram--I'll have you spell it.

STUPAR: Bajram?

DS: Yeah. Do they celebrate it here now in Bowling Green?

STUPAR: Yeah, yeah.

DS: Where do they normally go? Is it like a--

STUPAR: Hmm?

DS: Do they normally go to a club? Or, do they have a club?

STUPAR: No, they celebrate mostly at homes.

DS: So it's not a big community party, it's just a...

STUPAR: No, maybe like two or three families and that's the biggest, you know. Probably Bosnians would be, you know more, more qualified to talk about that.

DS: Yeah. Um, how about, um weddings?

STUPAR: Weddings. There are, there was a couple of weddings, you know I haven't attended any one of them. You know, they do it together and they have like little celebrations. Um, you know I can't, I can't really say.

DS: Okay. Um, okay. So how do you think your restaurant's going to actually serve the community? I mean obviously you've been talking about that, but what would you like to see happen as far as um, the fact that you're going to be a Croatian-Bosnian restaurant? And that you're in Bowling Green?

STUPAR: Well, we just want to add, uh, new, new value here. We want people to 42:00learn about us, to learn about Bosnians. We want to, you know, maybe they have some kind of prejudice about us, you know. A lot of people don't even know there is almost two thousands Bosnians here in town. We want, you know--and we want to help a lot of Bosnians, you know, we are probably going to influence people to, you know, find jobs easier, you know, because people who have companies here are going to be like, "Oh, you're from Bosnia. Yeah, I ate the other day in that restaurant, it was really good. You know, so..." That's, that can probably be our biggest draw in community.

DS: Mhmm. And is there anything you wish you could do in your restaurant that you're not going....

STUPAR: You know, restaurant is, restaurant is to make money after all. But um, I would like a lot of, to do a lot of dishes that my mom used to cook. And I'm 43:00probably not going to be able because there are very hard to make, very, you know, particular--I could be able but people here are not used to sitting in restaurant and wait for food for like an hour, hour and a half, which, which is not back, back home. So um, that's one of the frustrating things, you know. We'll have to be fast, fast, fast, you know. We'll have to, you know, just pick items and menu that is, that just fast, you know. Go for the quality not for the, you know--quantity not, not for the good stuff.

DS: Did you learn to cook for your mother when you were there?

STUPAR: Yeah.

DS: You did? So she taught you how to cook?

STUPAR: Yeah, a lot of, a lot of things.

DS: And you write her now, and call?

STUPAR: I call her every now and then. She calls me.

DS: Mhmm. To get the recip--and then you can get the recipes from her? Or are 44:00these other ones that you've already....

STUPAR: She's going to send some recipes, yeah. Actually her, her sisters I have to say are actually better cooks than she is.

DS: Oooh (laughs).

STUPAR: She's got like five sisters and they all cook like, mmm.

DS: And what kind of dishes are those?

STUPAR: Those are mostly dishes that are also pretty big on, in, on North of Italy, which is pretty unknown in USA because all the immigrants are from down south, and up north, um there's like famous dishes. Uh, gnocchi...

DS: Ah, I know.

STUPAR: ...which are like potato dumplings, potato pasta. Um, polenta, which is cooked corn with different sauces and stuff like that. Or uh, risotto, that's Northern Italian cooking, which is like uh, creamy rice with all different kinds of ingredients, you know, you can put whatever you want. That kind of stuff.

(00:45:02)

DS: Okay. Um, do you have any special stories about living in Bowling Green that you want to share? Anything that...

STUPAR: Um...Shew, um (laughs), um...Special stories? There's, there's one thing, um, maybe um, getting to know Sam, my, my friend from uh, from the bakery. He's uh, he's uh, uh a president of Flying Dragons Motorcycle Club.

DS: (laughs)

STUPAR: And uh, they are mostly black, but that's not a big deal. They're just, you know--when I first got there, uh, it was like the feeling of being in a 46:00motorcycle club, you know. Bikes over there, it's kind of rough, somebody shot a gun (laughs). And same was like, "It's all cool, man," you know. People are screaming, laying down on the floors, you know, And I was like, there the only, you know, foreigner in the club.

DS: (laughs)

STUPAR: And uh, Sam is very good friend of mine. Um, yeah Flying Dragon, man, that's probably one of the most exciting moments I had here.

DS: (Laughs)

STUPAR: Almost got shot.

DS: (laughs)

STUPAR: You don't have to put that in the brochure.

DS: Okay, we won't put that (laughs).

STUPAR: Sam is not going to be happy.

DS: Um, how about um, I know there was a war going on, but what was it that made you want to come here specifically? Or was it just, or was it ju--was it just the war? Or was there something in your life that was going on that made you 47:00really want to come to the United States?

STUPAR: Actually I was, probably after school, and after the army, you know, I was um, I was just looking for, for a place where I can go. I really just wanted to leave the Croatia, you know. Uh, it was mostly feeling of not having idea of what was going to happen tomorrow, uh, you know. Not being able to get a job or, I had a job but it was like very hard and at night job for, you know, not a whole lot of money. And uh, I had the chance to come over and I didn't even think, you know, for five minutes, you know. I was, I got the chance and in about five, five minutes I knew what, what I needed to do. It was kind of a hard decisions, but I think I did it right.

DS: Yeah. Um...So in the future, your children or your grandchildren may be 48:00listening to this. What would you tell them, what would you want them to know about, about your country, about your move here, or...

STUPAR: Well, I would just, you know, I think that um, I would just let them know that uh, the good things about our country, um. There's--I don't know, I would like to, I would like to research, I would like to take them over there once. Get them to know people and their customs and, um. I would just like to, you know, my kids to be open-minded, you know, and not closed to any kind of culture or language or race or, you know, or opinion. Um...

(Somebody calls for Robert)

STUPAR: I got to make some pizza.

DS: Okay.

STUPAR: Uh, that's about it.

DS: Okay, well um, we'll stop the interview so that you can make (laughs), you can make your pizza. They're yelling for you.

STUPAR: Are we done or you...

DS: Um, well do you have anything else you'd like to add?

STUPAR: No, no.

DS: Maybe some other time we could talk more? Yeah.

STUPAR: Yeah. You can, you can meet each other once in Bakers Street and let me know. And just do something in additionally fast.

DS: Okay. Um, thank you very much.

STUPAR: Okay.

DS: I appreciate it.

STUPAR: Thank you.