Robert J. Pavuchjak, Post-Gazette
	Yvonne Schexnayer works the counter during a recent "soup sega" at the Bulgarian-Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center in West Homestead. RELATED LINK Click to take a virtual tour of the University of Pittsburgh's National Rooms in the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland.

Pittsburgh long has prided itself on being a rich melting pot of various ethnicities, and there are many ways you can sample its many flavors.

Several come from the soup pots of West Homestead's Bulgarian Club.

It's one of dozens of ethnic clubs that still are integral parts of local neighborhoods and towns, where such associations were formed by immigrants who came from countries throughout Europe at the turn of the last century to work in the mines and the mills.

Even at age 75, this Bulgarian club remains one of the friskiest. It's official modern name -- the Bulgarian-Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center -- hints that it's now about more than providing members with life insurance, English lessons and a wedding hall. The red brick building regularly opens its door to the public for programs such as "vecherinkas," or evening dances. On Saturday mornings, fall through spring, the place bubbles for "soup sega," during which members make and sell quarts of cabbage and tomato, potato and leek and other southern European soups. Once a month, they feature recipes from other cultures, such as Spicy African Yam and Thai Tom Kai Gai.

Pittsburghers really eat up this ethnic stuff. "I think despite the homogenization of our cultures, everyone still holds on to their own cultures and embraces the uniqueness in others," says club secretary and soup chef Angel Roy. "Especially when it comes to food."

Other clubs and churches raise funds with foodstuffs, from cookies to pierogies. The place to easily find many different groups and treats under one roof is the Pittsburgh Folk Festival, which marks its 48th year at Station Square May 28-30.

The fest is a big draw in a place that loves letting its roots show. The West Mifflin amusement park, Kennywood Park, holds about a dozen "nationality days" including Serbian, Slovak and Carpatho-Russian. The summer and fall are full of other such celebrations, including the relatively new Dragon Boat Festival on the three rivers that is organized by several Chinese organizations.

As you can see if you look up "clubs" in the Yellow Pages, Pittsburgh has no shortage of ethnic organizations, many of which have thriving headquarters, such as Squirrel Hill's Irish Centre -- one of many places where ethnic dancing can be learned and enjoyed.

You can seek out Pittsburgh ethnic flavors any time of the year, and we're not even talking about restaurants. You just need to get out and explore the high points such as Polish Hill and the very Jewish Squirrel Hill. If you're driving, you can even tune in your car radio to one of the stations -- such as "Stations for Nations" WEDO-AM (810) in McKeesport and WWCS-AM (540) in Canonsburg -- that offer ethnic shows such as "Radio Italia."

One great destination is in Oakland: the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning, which you could rightly say is world famous for its Nationality Rooms.

Starting with the 1926 groundbreaking for this 42-story tower (now billed as the second tallest education building in the world), groups from throughout the county have responded to the invitation to plan and build rooms there that reflect their nationality.

Today there 26 beautifully designed and decorated rooms -- from Armenian to Yugoslav. Some, such as the African Heritage Room, are used as classrooms. All can be toured starting at 9 a.m. weekdays, 9:30 a.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. Sundays and some holidays ($3 adults, $2 seniors and 50 cents for children age 8 to 18). The last tours are dispatched at 2:30 p.m.; guided tours can be arranged with two weeks advance notice (call 412-624-6000).

A full list of all the rooms, including seven more that are in planning, and more details can be found at the Web site www.pitt.edu/~natrooms/index.html.

If you do some ethnic exploring online, be sure to visit the site globalpittsburgh.org. An initiative of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, the site provides a multilayered introduction to "Our International Communities."

Click through "Middle Eastern," for example, and you can find out about local Israelis, Palestinians, Egyptians and more, as well as pertinent landmarks such as the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh and Salem's Halal Meats & Groceries (both in Oakland).

But you can make your own discoveries when you're out and about. The Strip District is famed for its plethora of ethnic food shops. Listening to the old guys banter over their espressos at La Prima, you'd swear you're in Italy. In Pittsburgh's "Little Italy," Bloomfield, don't miss the sign-covered outer wall of the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, the proud Polish bar that breaks out the squirt guns each April to mark Dyngus Day.

There are similar treasures to be found farther afield. Out near the Pittsburgh International Airport, on Beaver Grade Road in Moon, is a small storefront called "Forgotten Taste." It's run by recent Polish immigrants who serve up a forgotten tastes of home -- pierogies, halushki, stuffed cabbage, plus an array of imported cookies, candy and canned goods.

While perhaps defined by its turn-of-the-last-century wave of immigrants from European countries, Pittsburgh's landscape also is being marked by more recent newcomers.

In the southern city neighborhood of Beechview, you can stop into a tiny grocery called the Tienda de Jimenez that is one of the gathering places for growing numbers of Mexican immigrants. Squirrel Hill is home to the Tango Cafe, where you can get not only sweet pastelitos and other Argentinean pastries, but also tango, sing-alongs, Spanish lessons, even a small Hispanic library and more.

Indian groceries and restaurants now can be found at every compass point, but east is the direction to head for some aesthetically and perhaps spiritually satisfying locations.

In Penn Hills, situated on a hillside along the Parkway East or Interstate 376, is the Sri Venkateswara Temple, which was one of the first Hindu temples in the United States when construction started in 1976. The intricately designed white structure is modeled after the famous seventh-century temple at Tirupati in South India. Visitors are welcome at the temple, which is reachable by turning off Business Route 22 onto Rodi Road (Route 48 North ) and following the signs.

Not far away, on Illini Drive in Monroeville, is another spectacular structure: the Hindu Jain Temple. Actually, there are several mini temples inside the hand-carved red brick exterior.

Both temples welcome visitors, but you'll need to remove your shoes to look inside.

Beautiful houses of worship of many faiths can be found all over the county, including several distinctive golden domes of orthodox churches. St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church in Millvale is one to try to get inside so you can see the 20 murals by Maxo Vanka that gloriously depict the immigrant experience.

Other buildings stand as monuments to the ethnic groups that built them. A nice way to close a day of exploring might be to head for Pittsburgh's former Deutschtown, on the city's North Side. You might see the timbered home of the 150-year-old Teutonia Maenner-chor, but this German singing and social club still is for members only.

You can pay a call to the former Eberhardt & Ober brewery there, which has been revived (by a Pittsburgher of German descent) as Penn Brewery. It prides itself on serving to the public authentic German fare, including, of course, beer -- perfect for toasting Pittsburgh's multicultural past, present and future.