Boston Flora

Tag: Middle East

  • Tuesday, February 26, 5:15 pm – 7:30 pm – Our Own Orient: Mecca, California, and Dates

    The Massachusetts Historical Society will hold a free Modern American Society and Culture Seminar on February 26 at 5:15 at its headquarters on Boylston Street, with Eleanor Daly Finnegan of Harvard University and comment by Laura Barraclough of Yale University on the topic of dates. Residents changed the name of Walters, California to Mecca in 1904. They were trying to use the exoticism of the Middle East to sell dates. This paper will focus on Mecca, California and the Indio Date Festival, looking at the complicated ways in which Orientalism has changed in the United States, its relationship to consumerism, and the economic connections made to the Middle East.

    To RSVP: email seminars@masshist.org or call (617) 646-0579.

    Image result for historical postcard Mecca California date trees

  • Tuesday, January 12, 6:30 pm – A Bazaar of Flavors: Bringing the Middle East to Boston

    The 2016 Ayer Mansion Lecture Series kicks off Tuesday, January 12 at 6:30 pm with Ana Sortun, Executive Chef and Owner and Maura Kilpatrick, Executive Pastry Chef, of Oleana Restaurant Group (Sofra, Oleana, and Sarma), with a program entitled A Bazaar of Flavors: Bringing the Middle East to Boston.  Wine and cheese will be served at 6:30 followed by the lecture at 7.  The Ayer Mansion is located at 395 Commonwealth Avenue, and tickets may be purchased online at http://www.AyerMansion.org.  $35 per person.