portuguese in massachusetts?

Question

my husband and i are taking a trip to massachusetts this month. i am brazilian portuguese but grew up knowing nothing of my culture. im from oklahoma and there isnt really any portuguese culture there (resturaunts, celebrations, etc....). i am constantly wanting to find out new things about my heritage. does anyone know if there are any portuguese resturaunts, celebrations, etc...in massachusetts that i might be able to go to? any advice is appreciated, thanks!

Answer 1

Boston's largest Latino and Brazilian community can be found in the Maverick Square area of East Boston. To get there, take the Blue Line subway to "Maverick" (coming from Boston it's one stop before Logan Airport). You'll find numerous ethnic restaurants here serving up authentic Mexican and Portugese fare (there are also a number of Brazilian restaurants in the Day Square section of East Boston which is a short five-minute walk from the Wood Island subway station, two stops past Maverick). Boston's Latino and Portugese community is thriving here and you'll definitely be within your element. It's too bad you didn't come here during July, I was there and they were having some big two-day street festival.
Actually, neighboring Chelsea seems to also have a very high population of Brazilians and maybe even higher than that of "Eastie" (I say this because Chelsea is the only community in greater Boston where cable TV subscribers receive Brazilian and Portugese TV stations). But Chelsea is poorer and less exciting than East Boston, and is also less convenient to public transportation.
East Boston also has a large community health center (I once worked there) where you'll find that most of the patients (as well as most of the staffers who aren't doctors are nurses) either come from Brazil or Latin America. Here's their website: http://www.ebnhc.org.
Here's the website for Boston's subway and public transportation system: http://www.mbta.gov to help you navigate around the city. I wouldn't recommend driving around East Boston as parking spaces will be hard to come by. Boston is a very compact city and it's much easier to get around by public transportation.
Anyways, Boston has a ton of immigrants and each ethnic group seems to cluster in a specific area of the region, but this is definitely the area where you'll find Latinos and Portugese.

Answer 2

in western/central Massachusetts... the city of Holyoke has a fair amount of Portugese.

The leading town would probably be Provincetown, at the farthest tip of Cape Cod. It's a tourist town, but after labor day it's cheaper to visit. It's also very popular with gays and lesbians.

Also, Fall River,MA has a large portugese population.

And there is a portugese neighborhood in Cambridge,MA (just across the river from Boston.

Answer 3

The Cambridge area has tons of portugese places to eat, etc. Depending where you are staying, check with the hotel for what is local. Usually Fall River, MA has a Portugese Festival, but it's usually during summer time, so you may have missed it. I think you will enjoy the culture, all around, of Boston and the surrounding areas.

Answer 4

Framingham (30 miles west of Boston) also has a large Brazillian population, so you may want to look around there. Framingham is considered part of the "Metro-West" region of Massachusetts, if you do an on-line search using that term you might get more results.

Answer 5

Because of the fishing jobs. Portugal is a nation of sailors. Portuguese navigators learned practically part of the arena. PS - possibly Dr. Chemi is being sarcastic approximately the USA society. Is a good recognized truth, that WASP's (white anglo saxonic protestant) are very racist! But the matters are replacing! (Starting this autumn with Obama!)

Answer 6

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Answer 7

I think that's correct

Answer 8

I would add New Bedford to the list as well.