Pickle Party! Immigration and Pickle History in the NYT, and in Lowell

Nice article I failed to link to a couple weeks ago when it was published in the New York Times: Immigrant Identities, Preserved in Vinegar?

One of the biggest battles over assimilation occurred a century ago in New York City, and the battleground was food. Politicians, public health experts and social reformers were alarmed by what they saw as immigrants’ penchant for highly seasoned cooking...Strongly flavored food, these officials believed, led to nervous, unstable people. Nervous, unstable people made bad Americans.

No immigrant food was more reviled than the garlicky, vinegary pickle. 

Speaking of which...Seeing as early-20th century immigration and industrial history are deeply interconnected pieces of our country's evolving story, Lowell National Historical Park presents Immigrant Food Traditions: Pickles on September 8 at 7:00 p.m. Demonstration, talk, and a movie! Check it out!

So, kosher dill or half-sours? Is there really any contest?

This is the best I can get at the supermarket in Mass., ok? Yum.

Keeping Things

Museums keep things.


And we interpret, preserve, explore, and reimagine them. Today, the New York Times has a nice interactive feature called Belongings, which takes a personal look at the good old question of why we keep the things we do.


"There are three million immigrants in New York City. When they left home, knowing it could be forever, they packed what they could not bear to leave behind: necessities, luxuries, memories. Here is a look at what some of them brought."

Check it out here.