Today’s ‘Food Focus’ interview is with Ruddi Snijder, Facilities Manager at Avonfield Neurological Centre, and Sharon Connolly, the service’s Kitchen Manager. They tell us about the approach the service takes to creating menus in conjunction with patients and their families.
Ruddi said: “Many of the people we support at Avonfield require meals which are soft or offer bite-sized pieces. We focus very much on making sure that any diets which require pureed or liquidised meals are appetising to look at as well as taste delicious, and that is a real skill.
“The team has undertaken dysphasia training and they have learned how to pipe food to make it look as appetising as possible. Sharon is very talented and can essentially make pureed fish and chips, for example, look just like the real thing.
“Why is that important? How we enjoy food is not just about the taste, it’s closely linked with what we see and what we smell.”
And how do patients and their families collaborate with the kitchen team to develop menus?
Sharon said: “We speak with patients about what they would like to see on the menus. We also speak with families to find out what people enjoy, so people’s favourite meals are incorporated into our menus – we try to include something for everyone.
“The favourite request is fish and chips. Everything is made from scratch by myself and the team. We make our own batter and we have a proper frier. Some of the people we support prefer not to go out to eat, and some can’t always go out to eat, so we like being able to bring that experience to them here. What we create looks like it was made in a traditional fish and chip shop and we make mushy peas and curry sauce. It’s all very authentic.”
Ruddi added:“As a team, there are two chefs and two kitchen assistants, and we create meals for up to 19 people. We are a rehabilitation service and as well as the service kitchen, there is also an ADL kitchen where people are supported to go out to buy ingredients and to cook meals they love too.”
The kitchen team also love to incorporate what the hospital’s grounds offer too.
Sharon said: “We have apple and pear trees that are about to be ready, and they’ll be good to use in our menus too. We have plans for vegetable gardens in the grounds and we’re looking forward to using the veg and herbs they’ll provide in our meals too.”
While there’s a strong focus on nutritious meals that support people’s physical health – with lots of salads and soups as well as fruit – the team also support with celebrations, baking homemade cakes for birthdays. There are celebration menus for theme days and special menus to mark events.
Ruddi added: “We don’t like to cook with frozen products. All of our vegetables are delivered several times a week so we’re working with fresh ingredients as much as possible. We get good feedback – we adapt recipes, menus and flex wherever we need to so we can reflect people’s needs and preferences. So whether it’s lasagne, curries or traditional meals such as cottage pies, we’re always looking at how we can make sure everyone is enjoying food which meets their needs – and tastes great.”