Culinary Greats-Legendary Chefs at age 60+

Food is trendy. It is no longer about TV dinners and microwave popcorn. The following chefs began their journeys many years ago to transform good eating to a fine art, a nutritious experience and big business.

Cecelia Chiang-(91)-Chinese- Raised in a very wealthy family in Shanghai, she was not allowed in the kitchen. As a young woman, Cecelia escaped occupied China and years later traveled to San Francisco to visit her sister. Serendipitously she met a friend there who planned to open a restaurant and then reneged but Cecelia went forward with the lease since she had already written a large nonrefundable check to the landlord on behalf of her friend. And so her restaurant Mandarin began and remained active for over 40 years. Chiang has taught Julia Child, James Beard, Alice Waters, and Danny Kaye.

Madhur Jaaffrey-(79) Indian- Born in Dehli, India, she did not cook at home when she was young and traveled abroad to study in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After marrying she moved to New York City and in 1973, she published her first cookbook, An Invitation to Indian Cooking.She has written numerous cookbooks of Indian, Asian, and world vegetarian cuisines, and has won James Beard Foundation awards for some of her books. As a result of the success, Madhur also developed a unique line of mass-marketed cooking sauces.

Diana Kennedy-(88)-Mexican- Born in the United Kingdom, she arrived in Mexico with her husband who was a New York Times correspondent. She traveled throughout Mexico researching cooking techniques as well as the history of Mexican cuisine. Craig Claiborne urged her to give Mexican cooking lessons in New York City and then in 1972 Diana published her first book The Cuisines of Mexico and 8 more books would follow.

Jiro Ono-(86)-Japanese- Born in Japan, he is considered the world’s greatest sushi chef. After his father left the young 9 year old Jiro left home and never returned. He has been mastering sushi for the past 76 years and now is the subject of a documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Jiro’s tiny restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro, is in Tokyo where he holds the Guiness Book of Records title for being the oldest 3 star Michelin chef. Reservations are not easy; you are encouraged to book up to a year in advance with a cash deposit of about $368.00.

Jacques Pepin-(76)- Born in France to restaurateurs, he learned to appreciate food at an early age. In the 1950s he was the personal chef to Charles DeGalle and then moved to the United States in 1959. He has appeared on numerous television shows and received a Daytime Emmy award in 2001 for his show Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home with Julia Child. Today he serves as Dean of Special Programs at the French Culinary Institute, teaches an online class for Boston University and writes a quarterly column for Food & Wine magazine.


Georges Perrier-(69)-French- Born in France and although not from a poor family, he began working at 14 and then moved to the United States when he was 21 years old. In 1970 he opened Le Bec Fin (French colloquial translation: fine palate) in Philadelphia which gained a 5 star reputation and was known as the leader of the "Philadelphia restaurant revolution". In January 2009, the French government awarded Perrier the Legion d'Honneur. In February 2012, Georges announced his retirement from Le Bec Fin by selling it to a former Le Bec manager. George still maintains ownership/interest in other restaurant venues.

Wolfgang Puck-(63)- Born in Austria and trained in France, he learned much of his cooking skills from his mother who had sometimes worked as a pastry chef. At 25, he moved to Los Angeles where, 15 years later he opened the award winning Spago restaurant. Now he has a gastronomic empire under his name which includes over 20 fine restaurants, catering services and more than 80 Wolfgang Puck Express operations, and kitchen and food merchandise, including cookbooks and convenience foods. He is the official caterer for the Academy Awards and his favorite food is macaroons.

Alice Waters-67)– Born in New Jersey, she moved to California to attend college. It was during her study abroad time in France that she began purchasing fresh foods directly and it was this experience that resonated with her and led to the development of her food fresh sustainable beliefs. In 1971 she opened the Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California which quickly became famous for its organic, locally-grown ingredients and is ranked among the World's 50 Best Restaurants. Waters created the Chez Panisse Foundation with a mission to transform public education by using food to teach, nurture, and empower young people. In 1992, Waters was the first woman to be awarded the Best Chef in America by the James Beard Foundation and has received numerous other awards, written about a dozen cookbooks and is a Board member of relevant institutions. Alice is an internationally acclaimed food activist who has inspired the organic food revolution.

The greatest delight the fields and woods minister is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me and I to them. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Great food is like great sex. The more you have the more you want. -Gael Greene

Creating Age Friendly Cities: Part 2

Two senior women who had successful careers refused to retire. They met serendipitously. Now Lucy Marco, a Canadian, and Jean Kincade, an American residing in Canada, have been revolutionizing the age-friendly-cities movement in Brantford, Ontario. With high level careers in the health services, they have utilized both their knowledge and passion to be a driving force in creating a master aging plan for their community and pioneer the movement across the country. By forming a steering committee, providing webinars to various organizations, gathering political support, and obtaining grants, these women are developing a model for urban entities to follow.

"Today's seniors are better educated, more technically sophisticated, have more disposable income and are healthier and living longer." says Lucy Marco. Now Lucy and Jean are making sure that this new demographic gets the support they need to continue to live dynamic lives.

As an indicator of the global awareness on the importance of urban environments for the elderly, The World Health Organization held the First International Conference on Age-Friendly Cities in Dublin, Ireland this past September 2011. It brought together people from all over the world, from public, private and voluntary sectors to share their thoughts and plans, their challenges and opportunities. With the forecast of 2 billion people who will be aged 60 and over by 2050, the urgency is immediate. Ideas will be for large scale transportation and housing and also innovations on a small scale such as increasing public seating by encouraging private donors to dedicate benches in memory of loved ones (Saanich, Canada).

Locally, Philadelphia has the highest proportion of older persons (age 60+) of any of the 10 largest cities in the United States and therefore understands the critical importance of providing an age-friendly community for its seniors. The Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (PCA) has taken the lead as a catalyst by bringing partners together to build this change through programs and services that meet and embrace a new urban model. The Age Friendly Philadelphia initiatives collaborate on:

1. Making parks more age friendly
2. Helping public transportation become more accessible
3. Increasing opportunities for flexible housing
4. Improving walkability
5. Enhancing neighborhood social capital
6. Improving access to fresh foods
7. Educating the next generation of leaders

And there are many organizations poised to help older people in Philadelphia. Coming of Age was founded by WHYY, AARP, United Way and The Intergenerational Center at Temple University to help people age 50 and over explore their future and connect to their community. Director Dick Goldberg says” Communities must respond or miss the opportunity of fully engaging the largest, most educated generation of social innovators in the nation’s history”.

The future starts right now. It starts with knowing what’s ahead and optimizing plans for success.

“It’s no use saying ‘We are doing our best.” You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.”
-Winston Churchill

EMOTIONAL PHILANTHROPY

It’s a phrase I spontaneously created in 2009 when an interviewer asked about my contributions to a charity. Although it was a quick creative response, in retrospect it was an important one.

We live in extraordinary times. With the economy lagging and joblessness, mortgage defaults and bankruptcies at high levels, many people are still struggling to stay afloat. Giving money to charity is not a possibility when there is barely enough for oneself. Yet giving does not have to be financial. By extending yourself to help others with services or simply by listening and offering support, you have opened yourself to emotional philanthropy.

I have identified three basic paths to channeling kindness through your life to consciously be a better social human being. The first is more psychologically based and the second is more reactive.

The first path starts with gratitude in one’s own life. Everyone has faced hurdles and disappointments yet everyone also has realized positive experiences. Taking positivity and transforming it to gratitude and then transforming the gratitude to giving are lifetime processes. It is important to realize that when you feel sated emotionally, you will be more likely to be generous with someone else. The second path is based on empathy. Knowing someone who is facing a critical situation that you can identify with and support will likely inspire you to reach out and help. It might be someone with a particular form of cancer, child support issues or job loss concerns that will trigger a reaction to help. The third path is an immediate emotional response often accompanied by a physical act that, without planning, will bring a person to hero status. For example, this might be seeing people hurt in an accident, hearing about a family tragedy or learning about the needs in a local shelter. It is usually a spontaneous response to tragedy or hardship.

There’s also scientific evidence of what is happening inside us while we are responding outside. Paul Zak, a neuroeconomist, has demonstrated a strong link between oxytocin and generosity. “We drew blood before and after people watched one of the two videos and found that doing nothing more watching the emotional video produced a huge 157% spike in oxytocin levels. Oxytocin levels actually fell for those who watched the neutral video. We then asked people how they felt after seeing the videos. For the emotional video, the change in oxytocin was correlated with feelings of empathy…. Oxytocin connects us to others and lets us understand their emotions.”

So if you are ready to do good and just do not know where to start or how to begin, there is a wealth of suggestions for taking a path with kindness at this website. The site provides a cyber deck of cards divided in the predictable suits of clubs, hearts diamonds, and spades. The categories are designed for people you know, for strangers, for yourself, for our world and offer thoughtful suggestions within each category for opportunities to show gratitude in one’s life by reaching out and seeking opportunities that will make a difference.

Everything is not all about dollars and cents. It is also about actively giving and living life with purpose. The unchartered waters abound for ordinary people to do extraordinary things for each other.

“If you want others to be happy, practice generosity and compassion. If you want to be happy, practice generosity and compassion….” The Dalai Lama

“A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving… ”- Albert Einstein

Beautiful Art That Disappears

Paintings by the masters such as Rembrandt, Botticelli and Rubens have been delicately preserved and treasured to last for centuries. Yet some artists today create work that will knowingly disappear in hours. Puff; it’s here. Puff again it’s gone. Much of this art is vulnerable to its environment.

Sand. A wonderful element that conjures unique memories whether you were building with it or just sunning on the beach. Sandcastle contests are fabulous and held at many beach locations across the United States. The work can be dramatic or playful but the world of sand art has been forever elevated by Jim Denevan. His work is graphic, linear and huge; aerial photographs must be used to capture the entire work which can stretch for miles. Not limited to warm weather and sand, he has also traveled to the other extreme. With his crew, he has created frozen two dimensional art on over nine miles of the world’s largest lake, Siberia’s Lake Baikal. The finished piece was a series of circles representing the Fibonnacci sequence and its monumental size has been considered the world’s largest drawing.

Scott Wade does not require vast space for his art. He calls his work Dirty Car Art and his brush work on windshields is remarkable. Scott achieves amazing detail and shading to create portraits that show subtle expressions and has also captured a studied work of Vermeer. Alas, the work will not last on those windshields; weather and air particles will alter it.

Do you ever think that amazing art can be made with your cup of coffee? How about what can be made with 3,604 cups of coffee and 564 pints of milk. An Australian team recreated Mona Lisa with coffees of varying intensities to replicate the sepia tones. At 20 feet high and 13 feet wide, it involved a team of eight people three hours to complete. Yes, this is ephemeral art but it will last longer than the single cup of coffee that is made into art by using steamed milk for contrast. Baristas should be sharpening their creative skills and watching for global Latte Art competitions!

Not intended to be edible, there are beautiful ice sculptures exquisitely carved and destined to gracefully melt in their environment. Some special culinary events showcase ice art for the table such as the classic swan or fish while there are monumental pieces that stand alone in their glimmering elegance. Predictably wherever there is art, there is competition. The National Ice Carving Association runs regional and national competitions and Kevin Gregory and Tony Young have won awards for their extraordinary work. Ice sculpture as a sociopolitical statement was created by Marshall Reese and Nora Ligorano. Mainstream Meltdown was created on 10/29/08, the 79th anniversary of the stock market crash. Pristine and elegant, Mainstream Meltdown on 10/29/08, the 79th anniversary of the stock market crash. In its pristine elegance the word ECONOMY was carved in block letters weighing 1600 pounds and measuring 15 to 20 feet across and about 5 feet high. Its strategic New York City location was in front of the Supreme Court Building and next to Wall Street. Yet it was doomed; it could not last 20 hours and was an “economy meltdown” disintegrating right before your eyes.

Unlike ice sculptures, food art does not usually get affected by the weather. Time and human consumption are its culprits. Beyond the traditionsl radish rosettes, food elements are composed in such a way that their original state is transformed. Vegetable and fruit art is insightfully creative with the potential of being both sophisticated and humorous. And then there are edible portraits that are delicious mosaics of all sorts of food and can capture the aesthetic essence of Rachel Ray, Rosey O'Donnell and others.

A tribute to the glory and purpose of food art was on exhibition at the recent Pennsylvania Farm Show. A 1,000 pound refrigerated butter sculpture by Jim Victor beautifully created this piece to depict a boy taking his calf through a county fair. This work was remarkable yet at the end of the fair this sculpture would be tossed in a manure pit. Steve Reinford is the farmer in charge who will oversee a bacterial breakdown process that can take a month to turn the butter to methane gas which can be burned in an engine and can be converted into electricity. This butter sculpture will have had many lives.

For the ephemeral nature of all these art forms, there is photography to document its presence in time. Perhaps it also speaks of the preciousness of time and beauty in our own lives.

If you want to experiment, do something temporary.
Andy Garcia, Actor

Creating Age Friendly Cities-Part 1

We know it’s coming. The silver tsunami is rising.

Baby boomer Americans are getting older and continuing to increase in startling numbers. The US Census Bureau predicts that between 2000 and 2050 there will be a 147 percent increase in demographics for individuals aged 65 and over while the entire population as a whole will increase by only 49 percent. Older adults will represent more than 20 percent of the population.

So what are cities and towns doing to prepare for this demographic change? What should be done to build age friendly cities and towns?

Fortunately there are some leaders and innovators.

In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has begun to change the face of senior centers. Once just a drop off place to avoid isolation, there are 8 pilot centers now on their way to be an intentional destination with vital activities such as underwater photography, rooftop gardening, technology courses and video conferencing. It will also be the first in the country dedicated to supporting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities and also focus on seniors with vision problems.

This city is also creatively mining their assets. Idle school buses are being used to take seniors grocery shopping from senior centers and senior centers will offer studio space to artists in exchange for their services, such as teaching art classes to senior center members.

The critical key continues to be communication and support in a networked approach among stakeholders and others to make the Age-Friendly NYC project effective and sustainable. “The mayor’s office formed a partnership with The New York Academy of Medicine to consult with the city’s seniors, service providers, advocates and experts” with a 4 year timeline for implementation. With 59 public-sector initiatives in progress, seniors will reap benefits of being safer and more engaged than other large cities facing such changing demographics. Mayor Bloomberg says “…as older New Yorkers continue to redefine the aging experience, government has a responsibility to keep pace and to find innovative ways to empower this community and improve its quality of life.” It’s no wonder that older New Yorkers are moving back from Florida.

Many urban leaders are tackling these issues because creating age friendly cities is an imperative. They are also aware that when city changes are implemented to assist older adults, it positively impacts other groups. For example, everyone could use outdoor seating, we all would like accessible public toilets and pedestrian crossings reconfigured to accommodate slow walkers would also help pregnant women, adults with small children and people with disabilities.

Cities are dynamic places to live. Many empty nesters are moving to or staying in urban areas for short (often walking) distance to shopping, easy access to transportation, a range of social services and a plethora of cultural opportunities. They pay taxes, fuel the economy and contribute in a variety of ways that maintain a diverse and involved presence. Creating age friendly cities is not only an obligation but also an important way to grow vital and harmonious communities.



"Leaders can inspire cities and cities can inspire leaders."
Jim Hunt, former Governor of North Carolina

The Truth about Creativity

There are two main truths.

The first truth is that creativity always introduces something new and therefore is important to our everyday lives as well as society.

The second truth is that creativity always introduces something new and therefore is often feared and rejected.

In addition to the fine and performing arts, we benefit from creativity in every aspect of our lives. For example, over the years the horse and buggy was replaced by well-designed cars, trains and planes to travel across land and space shuttles to explore the world above. Technology has allowed us to expedite and enrich our communication and knowledge; there was no historical substitute because electricity was first evolving in the nineteenth century. Thomas Edison who was refining the incandescent electric light bulb at that time, also invented the first phonograph and held a record number of 1,093 patents. Edison said “I find out what the world needs. Then I go ahead and try to invent it”. Steve Jobs who lead his company, Apple, to go beyond computers to create the iPod, iPhone and iPad also looked at the world’s potential needs and took hold of new markets in the process.

There are millions of opportunities we have today because creative individuals used their vision, sweat and time to persevere failures to gain success.

So why fear? What is the psychological factor that makes people shun a new concept or just a new approach to an old method? I believe they have the innate need for homeostasis. No change is the right change. The creative unknown cannot be allowed to displace the comfort of the familiar. It would be too risky, require understanding and acclimation and what if they failed to adjust to it? So many negative concerns swirl through their psyches that they need to prevent it from entering their lives. And so they lose. And sometimes we all lose because they may have the power and/or majority to thwart the flow of creativity.

Think about this; make time to reflect, analyze and respond to situations that are present in your life. A creative life can start with a new route to a regular destination, it can be making splatter pancakes instead of traditional round ones; find things to change and explore in a new way. Keep your mind flexible and open and allow for the unexpected.

The creative world is yours for the taking.


“Five percent of the people think;
ten percent of the people think they think;
and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.”
― Thomas A. Edison

CREATIVE THINKING & POSITIVE AGING

We all have them and we all hate them. Problems. It takes our time, saps our energy and puts us in a negative space. But only temporarily; we usually find a solution and move on. And yet there are times when that problem is actually an unrealized gift.

Alexander Graham Bell said “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Enter mental flexibility, creative thinking and positive psychology; a triad of intellectual ammunition that can transform battles to opportunities. Well known successes have been launched with this approach and our lives are better because of it. Many famous people, despite their initial failures, did not give up; instead they regrouped, rethought, recharged and came back with new strategies. For example, Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he had success, R. H. Macy failed seven times before his New York City store became a valued retailer and Walt Disney went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. These people worked on long term goals; they fell and got up again many times before they reached the finishing line. They were creative thinkers; tenacious with their vision yet flexible in their thought processes. Eventually their success reaped not only financial benefits but also personal satisfaction. Their triumph became our benefit.

As we age, our hurdles are more focused on our physical changes and less on career challenges. Everyone has a different way of coping; meditation, prayer, support groups and denial are avenues that will often alleviate some stress. There are many instances of older adults who realized that if they maintained their focus and looked at their problem from a different angle, a new solution, perhaps even a serendipitous one, could provide a new source of joy to their lives. Here are some examples:

• Don R. is a retired Professor of Literature. He has read and reread classics many times as well as thousands of other books because reading has been an integral part of his life. But when his eyesight began to fail him, real frustration was on the horizon. Enter audio books. Don has become so engaged in this new way of consuming literature that he feels it offers benefits that reading quietly by himself does not. For instance when he listens to poetry he can actually hear the cadence rather than silently read it. So Don, analytical by nature, evaluates narrators as critically as many evaluate authors and enjoys talking about their differences, addressing valuable insights to the theatre of the written word.

• Jane S. loves Florida and her senior community. She always has been independent and enjoyed driving to see friends and doing errands. However when her quick response time slowed down, her stress on the road escalated and her fender benders added to her insurance expense. Jane knew that she had to stop driving but she did not want to stop being on the go. At the same time, her physician was concerned about her weight gain and sedentary life style. The solution was evident: bike riding. Although she had not ridden in years, she took it up quickly again and can be seen pedaling around her community to see friends while losing weight, feeling better and enjoying more confidence in herself.

• Jean E. founded a free dance program for youth; she choreographed and also designed and constructed the costumes. But when arthritis took hold she needed to change her focus. "It had been a long life dream of hers to write a historical novel,” her daughter said. To date, Jean has written four novels and although she is now struggling with macular degeneration, true to her spirit, she is using the “best aids available at this time as she still has a couple more books brewing in her mind,” reflected her daughter. “Her upbeat attitude is an inspiration and shows that age and its physical changes cannot take away our creativity and desires to explore what life has to offer.”

So it’s possible, and definitely advantageous, to take those problems and create new positive experiences. “While simple cognitive processing measures such as those of memory and attention might decline with age, it seems that everyday problem solving does not”. We possess the experience and wisdom to make choices to better our life experience. While disappointments and hurdles will crop up, our decision to mine positive alternatives will support a healthier way of living. Everyday creativity is less about art and more about how we configure these choices and relate to the world around us. Creative thinking and perseverance will reap the rewards of positive aging.

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall."
~ Confucius