Would You Eat This?

“Good food is important for everyone, but more so for someone who has limited control over their future. What can be more immediate than giving people beautiful food and the difference it makes to every day in their life.’’ Such are the wise words of one of Australia’s most well-known cooks, Maggie Beer. Since being named the 2010 Senior Australian of the Year, Mrs Beer has been helping to develop and trial a new approach to food in aged care, with a focus on quality, freshness and presentation.

Australian celebrity chef, Simon Bryant said some of the biggest hurdles facing aged-care homes were budgets, training and liability surrounding risks such as falls, food poisoning and choking. “The first step is to collectively take responsibility and negate risk in a sensible way,” Mr Bryant said.

Personally, visiting hundreds of aged care facilities in the wider Sydney area, assessing many, many residents’ swallowing ability, to be honest many times, I held my breath before lifting their meal cloche. I would often think, Would I eat this meal?

The look of food, along with its aroma has everything to do with our desire to eat it. Keeping in mind aged care residents’ nutrition and weight maintenance, we need to ensure we get the presentation of their meals correct.

Key Components to Make a Meal Look Appealing are:

1. Colour. We eat first with our eyes so just like a painting the colours on our plate need to work together.
2. Shape. The shape of the food draws our interest by bringing movement to the plate.
3. Size. Different sizes of food in a dish direct our interest and make the meal have greater appeal.
4. Texture.

Visually attractive foods tend to appeal to our taste buds too. The feeling of happiness and satisfaction envelopes us on eating a well presented, healthy dish.

• The visual appeal of food is critical for residents on texture modified diets to help stimulate their appetite.
• Helpful for adding both colour and flavour, powdered herbs and spices can make a meal look and taste delicious as well as cater to individual tastes.
• For a fast, visually appealing way to present puréed food, using a piping bag and piping foods such as mashed potato, puréed carrots, or pumpkin on a plate in bite-sized portions can increase the visual appeal of a meal.
• By adding a sauce or gravy to puréed meat, for example will not only make it look more appetising but also add extra flavour and moisture.

Our Oak House Catering Course supports our aged care facilities’ chefs to provide nutritious, economical foods that support our ageing loved ones with meals that encourage safe eating, reminding them of the joy that revolves around mealtimes.



Take our Catering Course - HERE