In September, the SF Campus for Jewish Life partnered with the UCSF Global Brain Health Institute to explore the meaningful and transformative ways food is linked to our memories. Two Atlantic Fellows from the GBHI, Jake Broder and Zach Bandler, worked daily with five of our residents over two weeks, spending many hours in the test kitchen recreating their most cherished memories. The two-week project culminated in a “dinner party” where residents shared stories about their lives and their dishes.
Bandler and Broder’s work seeks to help those with dementia access pieces of themselves by sharing memories of foods they love. Their first “dinner party” took place in San Francisco’s Bayview District in 2023. (Bay Area author Peggy Orenstein wrote about it for the New Yorker.) At SFCJL, Broder interviewed residents about their favorite food memories, with Bandler filming as each person talked about what certain dishes evoke. Our campus chefs then made the dishes according to how the participants remembered the recipes.
During these difficult times, our residents’ stories reminded us of the power of food to deeply connect us to our past and to our shared humanity. Journalists agreed, and the story appeared on the local news and in a variety of online and print publications.
