Posts Tagged ‘Asian history’
History Cambridge is conducting an oral history gathering stories from local Chinese Americans
What was life like for Chinese Americans in Cambridge during the mid-20th century, before the near doubling in size among Asian ethnic groups over the past four decades? A recently started oral history project by History Cambridge seeks to provide some answers.
Read MoreJoyce Chen Restaurant
Compiled by Deb Mandel, 2022 Locations 617 Concord Ave, 1958-1971 The Joyce Chen Small Eating Place (1967-1988) 302 Massachusetts Avenue Joyce Chen Restaurant (1969-1974) 500 Memorial Drive Website: https://joycechenfoods.com/legacy/ History Joyce Chen was Boston’s first real celebrity restaurateur and holds indisputable importance in American culinary history. In the same era Julia Child was changing America’s…
Read MoreJoyce Chen started with a 250-seat restaurant, went to 350 and only grew her empire from there
I recently began working as a volunteer for History Cambridge, updating the 2011 Culinary Cambridge website written by Rain Robertson. Digging through the Cambridge Public Library’s Historic Cambridge Newspaper Collection has been a great opportunity to revisit some of my favorite restaurants. My best experience so far has been speaking with Stephen Chen, son of Joyce Chen, to review information and enrich the restaurant’s history with photographs and personal stories. In honor of May being Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we salute Joyce Chen, her restaurants and her family legacy.
Read MoreFall Conversation: How Has Food Mended Cambridge?
Over the course of 2021, History Cambridge has been exploring the ways in which the city has repaired its social, economic, and political fabric in the wake of historical crisis points—as well as the ways in which the need for mending remains. As a means of both physical and emotional nourishment, food has played a…
Read MoreWomen’s History Hub
Profiles included: Barbara Ackermann | Maria Baldwin | Ann Bookman | Sara Chapman Bull | Joyce Chen | Helen Lee Franklin | Suzanne R. Green | Lois Lilley Howe | Edith Lesley | Eva Neer | Mercy Scollay | Elizabeth Sullivan | Phyllis Wallace Our 2020 theme was Who Are Cambridge Women? But why spend…
Read MoreSavoring the Legacy of Joyce Chen
Chef. Restaurateur. Entrepreneur. by Stephen Chen, president of Joyce Chen Foods Reproduced from joycechenfoods.com with permission Born in Beijing in 1917, my mother Joyce Chen came to this country with my dad, sister and brother in 1949. We moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where friends of the family had settled, and where I was born. Surrounded…
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