In A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf wrote, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Woolf was writing about equality, but this same turn of phrase can also be used to describe the thinking at Evenings Porch, an assisted living community in Bayfield.
Home-cooked meals serve as a focal point of life at the facility, which has been open for just over two years. For Evenings Porch’s 12 residents, who range in age from 83 to 95, the meals serve to nourish both mind and body, administrator Erin Youngblood said.
“The owner (Lee McCutchen) really believes in healthy eating for decreasing disease potential,” Youngblood said.
One way Evenings Porch has explored this concept was a six-week class that, among other things, emphasized the role of healthy eating and stimulation in brain activity. Courtney Shlapfer, who cooks and manages Evening Porch’s kitchen, said the facility specifically avoids some types of foods. For instance, the meals are largely free of gluten – to reduce inflammation and promote mobility – and refined sugar. Whenever possible, the staff purchases meat that is sulfite- and hormone-free.
To get such healthy options, the staff goes out of its way to source ingredients from local farms and markets. Almost everything is organic.
“We strive to be as farm-to-table as we can,” Shlapfer said.
While Evenings Porch strives for healthiness, the residents, as survivors of the Great Depression, aren’t necessarily used to it. The staff, in its meal selection, has to strike a balance between health and nostalgia.
“Often mashed potatoes and gravy and bread would make them happy, so it’s an interesting dynamic and its really, really hard,” Youngblood said.
While the staff does all the grocery shopping, it also pays attention to residents’ special requests – both for substitutes for those with food sensitivities and simply for treats.
Then, of course, there are the challenges that arise just from having to feed 12 people from different backgrounds.
“One of the wonderful gifts about assisted living is you have 12 people with 12 different opinions, from room temperature to food to spicy or not spicy to let’s talk or let’s not talk,” Youngblood said.
On that last contention, talking seems to be much preferred, at least by the facility, for the mental engagement it provides and the sense of community.
Some residents, however, go beyond just participating during the meals. Evenings Porch has a garden in which the residents grow a diverse array of vegetables, from lettuce, tomatoes and carrots to beets, zucchini and spaghetti squash, in addition to herbs and flowers. During the summer, the herbs and vegetables make their way into meals, and the leftovers are either dehydrated or given to the community in the form of donations to the fire department and senior center.
And then there’s 95-year-old Darwin Kinney, the facility’s resident cook. A Navy fighter pilot during World War II, Kinney learned to cook from his mother. Now, he comes up with the lunch menu and cooks for everyone on Thursdays and assists with meal preparation throughout the rest of the week. Kinney’s favorite meals to cook are soups, casseroles and roasts, he said.
Despite the difficulties involved in cooking for such a specific crowd, or perhaps because of the challenges, the cooks seem to find Evening Porch’s food program as rewarding as the diners.
“This is a great balance between private cooking and restaurant cooking,” said Schlapfer, who has worked as a private chef and in the restaurant industry. “We have no creative ceiling here.”
ngonzales@durangoherald.com
