The Rice House Home Page
Macrobiotic Community of
Bergen-Essex-Union-Morris Counties, NJ
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Bergen County Area-Map # 1
Bergen County Area-Map # 2
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Community Description |
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Area Description |
Bergen, Essex, Morris and Union Counties in Northern New
Jersey are all part of the New York Metropolitan Area. |
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Municipalities With Macrobiotic Services Or Activities |
llandale, Bellevue, Edgewater, Emerson,
Livingston, Madison, Millburn, Montclair, Morristown, Parsippany,
Ridgewood, Teaneck, Tenafly, Westfield, West Orange. |
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Summary and Impressions of the Community |
Thanks to the dynamic energy of Shosh Aviner, macrobiotic activity in Bergen County across the Hudson River from Manhattan, is operating at peak capacity. In the West Orange-Livingston area, Elaine Nussbaum has counseled and taught cooking together with Karen Weinstock, since the mid 1980's; Elaine no longer gives cooking lessons, but continues to give health counseling. Elaine's book "Recovery from Cancer" is an inspiration to cancer survivors. Rina Schleifer gave cooking lessons and had a food co-op in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Dinah Goldberg gave cooking lessons in Englewood until a few years ago. It is interesting to see how the activity of one person, Shosh Ayiner, with strong leadership qualities can make such a difference in the success of a community. |
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Macrobiotic Community Assessment |
Healthy Services:
3 cooking teachers; visiting counselors.
Macrobiotic services started in the late 1980’s.
Healthy Activities: monthly pot luck dinner; quarterly lectures;
newslette. Elaine Nussbaum provided consulting services before she
passed away several years ago.. |
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Interviewed Macrobiotic Practitioners |
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Karen Weinstock |
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Length of Macrobiotic Practice |
33 Years |
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Community Functions |
Cooking teacher, food takeouts until late February, 2002. Continues to work privately with people with needs. Karen has recently finished the cooking section of a book being authored by Dr Richard Bernstein entitled: "The Diabetes Solution." It will be published sometime in the summer of 2002. |
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Macrobiotic Study |
Studied
with Michio Kushi in the late 1970's.
Lived in a study house at the time, and was a pastry chef in
L' Odeon, a macrobiotic restaurant in Allston (later called Satori) |
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Alternative Healing Modes |
Acupuncture,
Yoga, Meditation, Chi Gong |
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Gina Racas-Gold |
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Length of Macrobiotic Practice |
30 years |
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Community Functions |
Cooking lessons. |
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Macrobiotic Study |
Learned
about macrobiotics in Hong Kong where she studied for 6 years.
Then, she continued taking cooking classes in Switzerland
from a local woman for 2 years, and in London for a few more years.
She took levels I and II at the Kushi Institute (KI), and has
resided in New Jersey for 14 years. |
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Alternative Healing Modes |
None |
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Support System |
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Paid or Potluck Dinners |
There is a monthly potluck dinner every month in Lincoln
Park, but no macrobiotic dinners. |
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Education Centers |
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Seminars |
Every 2 - 3 months, someone comes from outside the area to teach in
the Teaneck vicinity. Past
teachers have included Verne Varona, Lino Stanchich, Warren Kramer, Tom
Monte. Asher Lazar used to
lecture and give cooking lessons before he moved to Israel 8 years ago. |
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Newsletter |
The Health Awareness
Coalition of Great New Jersey has just started to advertise Shoshana
Aviner's cooking lessons and macrobiotic events. It will also include articles about visitors. |
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Support Groups |
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Work Study Program |
None |
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Publications, Books, Cassettes |
At local health food
stores |
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Web Sites |
None |
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Natural Food Sources |
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Macrobiotic Restaurants |
No macrobiotic restaurants; 9 restaurants, in addition to Whole
Foods supermarkets, with vegan options |
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Natural Food Chain Stores |
Whole Foods, Wild Oats |
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Independent Natural Food Stores |
Natural Basic Food |
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Natural Food Coops |
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Mail Order Buying Clubs |
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Cottage Industries |
None |