I've always loved the Citymeals on Wheels mission to feed hungry seniors in New York ever since I first heard about the organization many years ago when the late legendary New York food critic and Citymeals founder Gael Greene was a guest on my radio show. She graced the studio with her unique presence and wit, and articulated the ways Citymeals fed seniors who were homebound and hungry, especially on weekends.
At the time my mother and grandmother were still alive, both seniors who were thankfully thriving and not food insecure. As a matter of fact, the opposite was true. Food was always a big part of my Panamanian upbringing - every day we enjoyed home cooked, nutritious meals - and though there was never great wealth - there was always plenty of food in the house, with friends and family over to eat it. I was blessed to see them continue that tradition well into their senior years, and I realized the importance of it.
So, although I peripherally knew that many New Yorkers went hungry, I never grasped the concept of just how many seniors were impacted and going without food in a city as bountiful as New York, until Ms. Greene eloquently and passionately spoke about them and the work that Citymeals was doing to help combat their hunger. Over the years, I kept in touch and continued to spotlight Citymeals keeping my audience updated on their efforts.
Fast forward to June 2024 - post radio show, post COVID, unfortunately my loved ones and Ms. Greene no longer with us - Citymeals continuing their commitment to serve hungry New Yorkers, held their 37th Annual Chefs' Tribute fundraiser at Cipriani South Street. Though the venue has changed over the years, the mission remains the same, and in less than 2 hours Citymeals raised enough money to feed more than 90,000 homebound New York seniors!
Between bites, curated cocktails and celebrity chef spotting, I had the pleasure to speak with long-time Citymeals supporter, Chef Jonathan Waxman - owner of New York's heritage Michelin-starred restaurant Barbuto - who in fact helped start Chefs' Tribute along with Gael Greene back in the 80's. It was fascinating to learn how Chefs' Tribute came to be.
"Gael Greene, James Beard and I were friends," said Waxman. "When Gael first came to me in 1984, she had never done any benefit before, and we were going to do this as a birthday party for James Beard to raise funds for Meals on Wheels - which is what it was known by then. So, she got a bunch of people together, Florence Fabricant, Bob Grimes, Larry Forgione - who was very good friends with James, in fact, James was sort of his mentor - and some other friends of hers, and explained to us what Citymeals was all about and how we could help. And we were all set to launch this event, and then, of course, the worst thing happened, James passed away." said Waxman.
"Initially we thought, okay, we're giving it up, but Gael said 'I'm not giving it up. Let's march this soldier on!'. So, we decided to make it an honorary benefit for James - a tribute to him - not a birthday party. And that's how the whole thing started."
During that time most elderly New Yorkers in need were only provided with food on weekdays and were left to their own devices over the weekend, often either eating less and rationing their midweek meals to eat on the weekend, or actually going without altogether.
"It was so hard to believe," said Waxman. "Like, really? These people that get food during the week are starving on the weekend? That's silly. So, of course we were all on board."
"Gael was such a tour de force," Chef Waxman shared. "She said 'we're not gonna let anybody charge us for anything. Not for one rental, not for one drop of food. Not for one drop of booze. Not for anybody's services. We're not paying for airfare, we're going to get everything donated. Everybody has to donate. That's number one'!"
I couldn't help but chuckle while listening to the Chef's recounting. Having been fortunate enough to meet with Gael Greene on a number of occasions, I can attest to the fact that she was indeed an animated 'force', who was as passionate about her beloved work for Citymeals as she was about the food she got to taste and critique over her illustrious career.
"She was relentless - she was like a dog with a bone - but for all the right reasons." remembered Waxman. And still she was really very elegant about the whole thing. It wasn't like she was trying to cajole people, or massage them. It was for a great cause."
"Getting everything donated was number one," Waxman continued. Number two was that in the spirit of James Beard it had to be about America - an American celebration - American culture, American food and all the diversity of it."
The first Chefs' Tribute was held at the iconic Rockefeller Center, and since many of the chefs came in from all across the country and didn't really know one another, Chef Waxman and fellow renowned NY Chef Larry Forgione were - as he put it - "kind of the ringleaders."
"Larry Forgione and I were like the chefs in charge at that time, and we invited our chef friends like Edna Lewis, Alice Waters, Jeremiah Tower, and Wolfgang Puck," recounted Waxman. "It was the first Monday in June, 1985 and it was a black tie event, and we raised about a million dollars that first year, which at that time was an insane amount of money. It was the first sort of event of its type - with well-known chefs serving up small bites of food with wineries next to them - a festive fun event. We didn't even have celebrity chefs at that point. Everybody did an amazing job. All the chefs did an amazing job, all the people that helped, we had beautiful weather, and it was quite a remarkable event."
"It's a real New York story. I don't think it could have happened anywhere else." said Waxman.
Last year, Citymeals on Wheels delivered over 2 million nutritious meals to elderly New Yorkers, and Chefs' Tribute is a big part of that effort. The signature soiree has also inspired other organizations to follow suit and create their own food tasting fundraisers which has benefited the entire New York community.
"Citymeals is committed to ending hunger among older New Yorkers by 2024, and the funds raised will help us make important strides toward that goal," stated Citymeals' CEO Beth Shapiro.
The list of celebrity chefs who continuously support the event is long and includes Citymeals Board Chair Daniel Boulud (Le Gratin), Charlie Palmer (Aperibar), Marc Forgione (Respect Hospitality), Scott Conant (Cellaio), Aliyyah Baylor (Make My Cake), Alex Guarnaschelli (Butter), and Leah Cohen (Pig and Khao). There were also restaurants participating for the first time like the newly opened Cecchi's in the West Village.
"I think chefs love to give, it's just our nature - we feed people and we try to be empathetic and give more than we take. I think it's an important part of what we do," added Waxman. "I contribute to a few charities every year, but Citymeals is my favorite, it's the one that's sort of near and dear to me. It's a direct relationship between raising money and feeding people. The correlation is very, very immediate. To know that homebound people get fed on the weekends, that's a pretty amazing thing. We started off feeding a very small number of people back in the 80's and now it's really expanded to a real industry."
2024 is a very special year for Mr. Waxman, a New York legend in his own right, as it marks the 20th anniversary of his famed Michelin-starred, Barbuto. Not many restaurants in New York or elsewhere can claim continued success for such an impressive duration.
"2004 - It goes by in a heartbeat". said Waxman. It's kind of wacky but we're proud of it. We've had a couple of small celebrations. I did one on our actual anniversary in February with Marcus Samuelsson and then I did another one a month later with Marc Vetri from Philadelphia, and we're planning a big celebration in November sort of centered around my birthday and the culmination of 20 years of Barbuto."
Just as it was an honor to have interviewed the legendary Gael Greene, so too it was to hear Chef Jonathan Waxman tell the great story of the early days of the Citymeals Chefs' Tribute. Chef Waxman humbly gave credit to all the chefs and volunteers who have participated over the years for the event's continued success. "I'm just proud to be a part of it, and proud of everybody that participates." said Waxman. "It's a great homage to both James and Gael."
"I think that there should be more organizations that do what Gael created - where 100 percent of what you raise goes directly to the charity - which I think is extremely unusual."
Exactly! I couldn't agree more.
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