Dishing up food for thought

On occasion, I work as a volunteer with Meals on Wheels in St. Petersburg, delivering food to people who are frail or disabled. It's basic stuff: Chicken, hot dogs, meatballs or spaghetti as a main dish; a vegetable or two; fruit; bread and margarine; low-fat milk; and, usually, dessert: cake, flavored gelatin, cookies.

Those who prepare the food do so with precise nutritional formulas in mind. A colleague who forgot to leave a carton of milk at one client's home delivered two to the next person on the list. She was sheepish as she confessed her error to coordinators at the program. She also was unprepared for the tongue-lashing she received from a woman who did not want any person on the route to lack sufficient nourishment.

Many Meals on Wheels recipients are aged men and women who can no longer shop or cook for themselves. It is a comfort to know that they get at least one balanced meal each day, but I often wonder whether they eat properly aside from that.

In today's cover story, Times correspondent Terri D. Reeves talks with experts about some of the nutritional challenges older people can face. Our digestive systems falter, we lose our sense of taste, and we may have neither the income nor the inclination to eat well.

Reeves focuses on some "super foods" that are excellent fuel for aging palates and on inexpensive non-perishables that have staying power wherever they are stored.

If you need help or know someone who does, call the Florida Department of Elderly Affairs between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays (toll-free 1-800-963-5337).

Speaking of food, many of us began the holiday season of gratitude and generosity by celebrating Thanksgiving last week. This has been an extraordinary year in which events have left us feeling by turns frightened, angry, confused, grief-stricken and helpless. As so many of us rushed to give to those immediately affected by the Sept. 11 attacks, our focus may have turned away from the hungry in our communities. The cupboards of charities throughout the Tampa Bay area are nearly bare. Please be as generous as you are able with donations for the hungry.

Last month, the popular Needleworks column moved from Floridian to Seniority. With today's edition, it ceases altogether; the syndicate no longer offers the feature.

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