„You’re just like crosstown traffic
So hard to get through to you“….

„Crosstown Traffic“ written by Jimi Hendrix, 1968 on the Album „Electric Ladyland“

Der Beitrag The Sound of the City – Jimi Hendrix´“Crosstown Traffic“ erschien zuerst auf Urban Appetizer.

Today I want to introduce you to an event that puts a lot of love and effort in preserving this culinary identity, called My Mother’s Recipe.
It is a Sunday afternoon potluck, based in New York, established by The CareGivers’ Project which brings together older people who live in their own homes, independent and assisted living and nursing homes and their caregivers. The purpose of My Mother’s Recipe is to celebrate the bond between caregivers and caretakers by sharing a home-cooked dish and recipe, which has been handed down from an earlier generation with other care pairs in their community. It is open to fathers, sisters, caregiving neighbors and past caregivers who all have stories to share. This past spring, I had the chance to spend one afternoon in a beautiful retirement home in Yonkers, just north of the Bronx, where the event took place.  I love old people and the stories they have to tell, that’s why this afternoon, which was far away from all the „cool“ and „hip“ stuff was one of my favorite days, while living in New York City.

The „Riverdale-Residence Girls“ at „My Mother´s Recipe“ buffet Spring 2014

I was happy to see also younger generations taking part in this event, since we are the caregivers of tomorrow. All together celebrating generations of comfort food and “back in the day” stories related to their family members and the roots of the meals they brought.

The background
The CareGivers‘ Project was incorporated in 2012 by the creative spare time synergy of my friend Jomarie Zeleznik, Mary Ellen DeVito and Michael E. Berry all of whom drew inspiration from caring for parents. To be a caregiver is a choice you can make. A classic definition would be: „A person who provides direct care as for children, elderly people, or the chronically ill“. The website of The CareGivers’ Project published individual comments stated by a variety of people reflecting on the term „caregiver“, showing that the perception is very different in our society. Read more about the mission of the project in general here.

My personal ingredients 

I do sometimes miss the other perspective of the elderly in my very urban environment having grown up in a small town in a three generation household, which was very usual in the 80s. Living in the „Big City“ I feel, that there is a strong need for keeping up the exchange between the different generations. Well, we all know the demographic change is very obvious. People are moving to the cities and we are all getting older. Its all super obvious, but still we so often forget. I think culinary journeys are a very good occasion to connect with older people.
My grandmother passed when I was only 12 years old and ever since, I miss her and the incredible food she made. Preserving that memory, I decided to bring a special potato salad to My Mother´s Recipe that strongly reminded me of her. The funny thing about this meal was,that she actually never made it for me, but I made it for a family event once, because I found the recipe somewhere. When my mother first tried it, she said that’s exactly the taste of her childhood, because my grandma used to do it in the same way in earlier years. In the end I was so super glad to share this taste of my family far away from my German home with elder New York ladies at this cozy suburb afternoon. It somehow gave me the feeling that I took my grandma with me that day.

My Grandmother

Grandma & me in 1983

If you are wondering why I don´t post any recipes in this article at all, Donna Jacobson one of the contributors, has a pretty good answer in her own story to this. Whenever people asked her about her mother´s recipe, she says:

”… usually, there was no recipe. It was a little of this, a lot of the other and cook until it tastes right. Occasionally, our mothers would trade family recipes, but most often, they were a guarded secret, revealed only to family members. „

Enjoy Donna´s complete beautiful story about food and family set growing up in the Bronx:

FOOD FOR MY SENSES

and 

MY FATHER´S MEATBALLS by Mary Ellen DeVito

These two beautiful stories that were told at the last event. Maybe make you´ll be inspired what´s next on the menu. Even if, for whatever reason, we don´t find any recipes or can´t talk to family members any more, the memory of the taste is in our DNA and we all should preserve this family treasure!

Bon Appetite!

Photo by Kristen Llobrera pixelatedcrumb.com

The next MY Mother´s Recipe,
Sunday October 19, 2014 12:30-3:00 PM

Hosted at The Riverside Rehab and Healing Center

Official Website
The CareGivers ´Project on Facebook

Der Beitrag The taste of childhood …or how I took my Grandma to NYC erschien zuerst auf Urban Appetizer.