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Member Worker
Profile: Joan Dembinski
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by Hope Perlman
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The first thing you notice
about Joan Dembinski is her positive attitude.
She thanks me for writing about her in the Coop Scoop. After her
enthusiasm, you notice her energy. When we arrange to meet, she tells
me she works six hours at the Coop on Fridays, and then heads to
Schenectady to take culinary classes. That's a busy schedule for
anybody, but Joan seems tireless.
Indeed, after retiring from a 50-year career as a medical researcher,
Joan is pursuing another dream: to become a chef. In May, she graduates
from Schenectady County Community College with an associate in
occupational sciences certificate in culinary arts. In addition to
taking courses toward her degree, Joan bakes cookies, cakes and plates
desserts every Tuesday at Yono's Restaurant, and she apprentices with
chef John Ireland at the Wine Bar in Saratoga. She won a silver medal
in the student competition at SCCC during the American Culinary
Federation's Annual Competition Classic in May, and she and her
teammates won gold medals for the Knowledge Bowl ACF Competition in
Hershey (Pa.)--and lastly, she was recognized as Student of the Year at
SCCC.
Like most member-workers, Joan shopped at HWFC before joining. A search
for potato flour led her here for the first time. Her mother needed
some for a special birthday cake, and Joan called every store in the
area until she found HWFC. Says Joan: "I was so enchanted I never
left." In 2005, she joined the Honest Weight Food Co-op and began to
work stocking shelves and, later, doing food prep activities in the
deli. Now she devotes her hours to the deli, where she sets up the
coffee ("flavors, second to none in the Albany area"), makes juices
(carrot-apple-ginger-beet is her favorite), chops and prepares
ingredients for salads (favorite: sweet potato-cranberry), and assists
with soups and dips. Joan loves working at the Co-op. "The people here
are marvelous and so willing to share their skills and good
thoughts..." she says. She feels like "it's a learning experience every
time I walk in here."
Joan grew up in Albany. Her mother, an RN, and her father, a
physiotherapist, started Albany's first health club, George's, located
downtown in the City & County Savings Bank. Joan attended the
Albany Academy for Girls, then Mount Holyoke College, where she
graduated in 1959 with a degree in zoology. Joan's love was for
science, and at Mt. Holyoke she took every possible science class
available-- so many that her dean told her she had to take some classes
in humanities and social sciences if she wished to graduate.
After college, Joan considered medical school, but decided that she
enjoyed research most of all. So she returned to Albany and began her
30-career at Sterling Winthrop Research Institute. She spent her career
evaluating investigational medicines for heart failure and diabetes in
humans, moving from clinical researcher to project director. At the
time she joined Honest Weight, she had worked for 20 years at Omnicare
Clinical Research.
Although Joan agrees that in becoming a chef she has "basically
reinvented" herself, she feels the change from medical research to the
food industry is not as large a leap as one might think. Both
industries revolve around people's need to survive and be nourished.
She finds the Coop's philosophy confirms her own thoughts about food
and the food industry. The bulk foods, for example, support the
philosophy of not wasting: One can purchase a specific amount of an
item, no matter how small.
Joan is active in community affairs and works with Yono and Donna
Purnomo at local charity events, as well as at the annual Equinox
Thanksgiving dinner. She is a former president of the Albany Numismatic
Society and she used to paint and sculpt, but of late her passions
focus on food. Her love of food stems from her mother, an amateur cook.
She's a member of the Slow Food Society at Schenectady County Community
College. Twice a year she travels to Italy, where her mother's family
originated, always visiting new places and trying new foods. She loves
to walk everywhere and explore new tastes and sights. Back home, she
collects cook books and antique cookware.
After taking her degree this spring, Joan plans to continue studying
culinary sciences with an eye to a 4-year degree. She loves baking
pastries, and feels that small and elegant pastries should be the basic
dessert model. She enjoys the process of working toward a goal, but
isn't "too concerned at 73 if I do not become an executive chef." The
pursuit is pleasure in itself, as she enjoys plating and cooking in
professional kitchens and meeting the people who work there. She finds
it a very positive profession. The point, she feels, is to wake up in
the morning and "take inventory when your feet hit the ground... that's
always a good day." It's important to evaluate your capacities, and
then keep moving.
After our interview, I shop for some groceries. On my way past the
deli, Joan stops me with a platter of dip and crackers. "Try this Bomb
Diggity Dill Dip. It's my favorite." I take a sample. It's delicious.
Then, in the parking lot, I see Joan again. "Just called the restaurant
in Albany to ask if they needed anything. 'Can you come in now?' they
said. 'We need you.'" She's gone before I've reached my car.
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