Joanne Koslowsky Diaz of Highland, chef and artist for more than three decades, has fond memories of preparing meals for up to 3,000 people for Radio City Music Hall parties connected with MTV and HBO. Celebrities delighting in her fare included Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Bette Midler and Cyndi Lauper. She became a chef to combine her love of gourmet food, incorporating her artistic skills.
The illness and subsequent death of her mother two years ago changed her job focus, but not her determination to marry her two skills to each other.
“She was ill, and I would go down to Manhattan to prepare her meals. When she died, I wanted a new focus.”
Today she is the chef at the Meals on Wheels program based in Hyde Park. “It”™s the most rewarding job I”™ve ever had. I knew the salary would not be that great, but I start early in the morning and wind up by early afternoon, enabling me to pursue other freelance work as a chef and artist. I make meals for 50 individuals and have a co-worker who does the desserts and bookkeeping.”
In most cases clients sign up for two meals a day, so lunches are delivered along with dinners by teams of 10 volunteers a day.
Diaz has a special affection for a woman who shares her birthday, but not the same year. She personally delivered a special meal for the woman”™s 100th birthday.
The job has its amusing aspects, the chef notes. “I prepare special meals for those with restricted diets. One woman was frequently complaining and sending back special notes. One day I got a paper bag on which she had scribbled a critique and also asked us to send her a pack of cigarettes.” Diaz is now in the process of creating a healthy gourmet food line for seniors.
Diaz grew up in the East Village in Manhattan surrounded by multicultural friends, which influenced her food preferences. She herself gravitates toward natural and health foods with a preference for Greek and Mediterranean cuisine. She grew up in a Russian-Polish family as the youngest of three children.
“My father influenced my interest in foods. He was a quality control specialist with General Foods, sampling nuts. He would pick them up at the docks and test for bacteria.”
After high school she went on to various gourmet chef jobs, catering restaurants, banks, law firms, yachts and country clubs. She then began to accumulate college credits, earning an associate”™s degree from Dutchess Community College. She says she has acquired enough credits from the New School and the School of Visual Arts to merit a bachelor”™s degree.
She also plans to earn a teaching degree, but meanwhile is teaching youngsters 8 to 12 years of age how to cook in a program titled “Cooking Matters.”
“Puerto Rican friends named me ”˜Flaca,”™ as that means ”˜skinny”™ in Spanish. And, my very favorite teacher, Mrs. Humphries, called me ”˜Noodle”™ for tall and skinny.”
Two of her contributions made their mark at a show at SUNY Ulster featuring food and art. One with watercolors, collage and wax, depicted pineapple sections. The second entry was a book art piece, a cookbook featuring soups, with artwork on each page incorporating a different raw vegetable or spice sprayed for preservation. “The smell was delicious.”
The Hyde Park chef has also dabbled in singing and songwriting, and sang with a soul vocal group called Off White in several Manhattan clubs.
Challenging Careers focuses on the exciting and unusual business lives of Hudson Valley residents. Comments or suggestions may be e-mailed to Catherine Portman-Laux at cplaux@optonline.net.
