Members of Riverdale Senior Services (RSS) were enjoying high tea and food samples in one room, while winners could be heard shouting, “Bingo!” in the next – a common occurrence at RSS, especially with the organization commemorating 50 years of providing a plethora of activities and programming to the community and beyond, free of charge.
“Our role in the community is to be a safe, bold space of belonging for older adults to live their happiest and best lives,” Floyd Rumohr, interim executive director of RSS, told the Bronx Times. “It’s not just about the walls of the community center, it’s the energy, the love, the compassion and what happens within those walls.”
Not only does RSS offer a free lunch, but it also provides a variety of classes from yoga, to writing to gardening, to art and so much more. But it isn’t just the people of the Riverdale neighborhood who get to reap the benefits. Some participate remotely.
“It’s just been fabulous,” said Natalie Lewis Nussbaum, who lives in Queens. “The writing classes, the lectures and the exercise classes I know are keeping me alive.”
Nussbaum said she loves being active but has never been to RSS in person. Instead, she participates online, as do dozens of other members, 60 and over.
On Sunday, Sept. 22 and Monday Sept. 23, RSS held a two-day celebration to mark its 50th anniversary at 2600 Netherland Ave. Local father-and-son politicians, Jeffrey and Eric Dinowitz, were on hand distributing envelopes with $10 worth of HealthBucks – dollars that can be used at farmer’s markets by recipients of government assistance — and giving words of gratitude and encouragement.
Assemblyman and septuagenarian Jeffrey Dinowitz joked with a group of seniors during the celebration on Sunday. “As I rapidly approach middle age, I know that eventually this is going to be my place where I go every day, and I look forward to it.”
And to honor their golden anniversary, the art class, writing class and cooking club of Riverdale Senior Services joined forces to create, “Culinary Tapestry: An RSS Cookbook: Weaving Recipes, Stories, Poetry, and Art.”
“We tried to connect food with other things and so, for the 50th, I thought it would be a really nice thing to have this cookbook that sort of combines all of that,” said Barbara Denson, program specialist who helped create the cookbook and who also coordinates with the community gardens and leads horticulture therapy sessions.
Although RSS had just a few classes with Plant Powered Metro New York — an organization providing evidence-based education that eating whole foods leads to healthier living – the unifying nature of food was enough to start an entire cooking club, and consequently, create a cookbook.
“It’s a real book with an ISBN [international standard book number],” said Margie Schustack, director of communications and programs, and contributor. The books are $30, with funds directly benefiting all the programs provided at the center and can be purchased by contacting RSS.
Schustack’s story, “TV Dinner (page 28),” tugs at the heartstrings as she recounts a memory from her childhood of eating frozen Swanson dinners with her father during lunch time. Benita Glickman showcases her family recipe of an Israeli chocolate cake (page 48), which she used to help her late-grandmother prepare when she was a little girl. And Susan Chavez’s watercolors of eggplant (page 10) and asparagus (page 23), add a personal touch and whimsy that other cookbooks lack.
Broken up into “main course” and “desserts,” “Culinary Tapestry” weaves recipes, art and memoir where older adults recall stories of their youth tethered to the universal language of cooking. Punctuated by humor and loss, the book lends an intimacy, as if it was your own grandmother who wrote it, which in a sense, is not very far off, like Grandpa Dominick’s Easter Soup (page 7).
On Sunday, several recipes were available for everyone to try including “lazy pan delicious” (page 12), a simple, savory dish of cabbage, kielbasa and tomatoes; a chickpea salad (page 19); “Mama’s potted chicken” (page 20) and a banana cream sponge cake (page 45).
“This is delicious,” RSS member Ruth Howard said at the table while enjoying her plate of samples.
The seniors noted that as they age and their bodies don’t behave like they used to, mortality becomes more present in their minds. They also said that they see the value in life and time shared. Sometimes it’s in the form of cooking nostalgic dishes alongside their family and passing down recipes.
The cookbook serves not only as a resource for wonderful meals, they say, but as a testament to the lives lived and those who are still living.
“It’s evidence that we older adults exist, that we aren’t done, that we have more to give, that there is talent, there is energy, there is wisdom,” Rumohr told the Bronx Times. “There is a place of belonging here as we celebrate through food, which is one of the most profound acts of love anyone can give another.”
Reach ET Rodriguez at etrodriguez317@gmail.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
