Comfort cooking for palliative care
Recipes developed by Hospice Niagara for people living with side effects of illness
She is caught up in the moment of rolling peanut butter into balls. Denyse Hills, a 72-year-old woman with snow white hair and a smile that easily appears, lives with cancer that has spread throughout her body.
On this day, she is having the time of her life mixing sticky peanut butter.
The goal, as explained by Hospice Niagara chef Patrick Engel, is to form peanut butter along with other ingredients such as pumpkin seeds, chopped and pitted prunes, and almonds into bite-sized balls. A simple task that is cause for a mix of lighthearted conversation and feigned consternation at the day hospice program in Welland.
“Do they have to be perfect?” asks another woman at the table, her hands buried in the gooey mixture.
“Yes,” replies Engel with a wink.
A wave of giggles travels around the table.
“Let’s put it this way,” he continues, “Any that are not perfect, we have to eat.”
More laughter.
On this day, he is showcasing a variety of recipes created to address the dietary needs of people living with illnesses such as cancer and the side effects often caused by chemotherapy treatments and medication.
“The biggest challenge is just getting food into people,” says Engel, who has cooked at Hospice Niagara for some six years.
“It’s a very basic challenge. You’re trying to feed people who have lost their appetite.”
The recipes were developed in collaboration with George
Brown College’s Hospitality and Culinary Arts program and its food innovation and research studio. Local palliative patients and caregivers offered their input and taste tests were held in
St. Catharines and Welland.
The project was funded by The Helderleigh Foundation and recipes are available online at Hospice Niagara.
The 12, calorie-rich recipes include appetizers, desserts and main fares, all packed with high fat and protein, says Engel.
“If people are only going to have three or four bites of something, let’s make sure those three or four bites are packed with a much nutrition as possible,” he says.
Ingredients are simple, familiar and not expensive. Food is about comfort. The texture is soft without being too uniform and liquid. Recipes are easy and quick to prepare and can be made in larger quantities and frozen, he says. They also reheat well.
“When time is limited the last thing you want to do is spend all day in the kitchen,” he says.
The recipes come with a breakdown of nutrients and are easily adaptable for everyone.
“It’s food possibly for sick people but it’s not sick food,” he says. “This is real food. Everyone can share a meal together.”
Ron McKenzie, 61, didn’t know how to cook beyond a microwave when his wife, Victoria, had a