“My favorite meal – the one I remember most fondly to this day – wasn’t just a one-time meal. It was the meal we had at home every Friday night growing up,” says longtime Petaluman Gloria Robinson, who grew up in Miami, Florida, and still fondly remembers those long-awaited weekly dinners. “My great aunt raised me, and she had fish every Friday. I still remember the whole meal. There was fried fish, plantains, yellow rice and black beans. I was just thinking about that particular meal the other day. It was so good.”

Robinson, who moved to Petaluma with her husband, Herbert, in 1971, is a co-founder of Petaluma Blacks for Community Engagement. Now retired, she worked as a dietitian at the Petaluma Convalescent Hospital, volunteered at local schools, and helped establish the annual Black History Program at the Petaluma Historical Library and Museum. She was also involved in several local organizations, including Petaluma Business & Professional Women, Petaluma Health Center, and Petaluma Parks & Recreation Department.

When asked what made those weekly meals with her great-aunt Gladys Smith so memorable, Robinson recalls a time when security and comfort came from the consistency of a set routine. Dinner, for example, was always at 6 p.m.

“It was a big old house with a beautiful glass table and very nice chairs,” she says. “I remember they all had plastic covers so they wouldn’t get stained. The real china only came out on holidays, Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners when all the cousins ​​and other family members came over. The rest of the time, Friday nights of course, we used regular dishes.”

While the house was often filled with exuberant people during family celebrations, things were quieter on Friday evenings: only Robinson, her Aunt Gladys and sometimes her Uncle George were there.

“We never talked much at the table,” she says. “But what makes it unforgettable for me is simply that it was the same meal every week. I really looked forward to it – and even today, as an adult, I cook fish every Friday.”