Rest homes banish the grey tucker
Once upon a time the reputation of retirement village or rest home food was akin to hospital food – bland, cooked in bulk and of questionable quality.
It’s unlikely the food was ever nutritionally bad. Yet in New Zealand villages, there’s something of a food revolution going on.
Elderly who know their cannelloni from their calzone are being asked what they think, and village operators are listening.
This week Metlifecare unveiled revamped menus with celebrity chef Simon Gault in tow to provide some signature dishes.
Ryman Healthcare also has upped the ante, revamping its menus and giving residents two or three choices at sittings – one of them vegetarian.
Are today’s retirees more demanding? Or is the industry simply getting more competitive?
John Collyns of the Retirement Villages Association thinks it’s more about the importance of food when people are in care.
‘‘I think what we’re seeing is a desire on the part of operators to make the food experience a much more memorable one than the institutional stuff they’ve had.
‘‘People are no longer prepared to put up with rubbish; they actually want to have good stuff, and operators are understanding that.’’
Some villages allow residents to order meals days in advance which gives them ‘‘a greater choice of what they can have but more importantly, waste is minimised,’’ Collyns says.
Simon Gault, who as a schoolboy was ‘‘chief cleaner and bottle washer’’ at a rest home, says retirement villages are nothing like he remembers.
And neither are the elderly. ’’It’s like moving into a pretty smart hotel: There’s spas, there’s cafes, there’s lots of things to do ... And you’re not just catering for elderly people, a lot of these people are not that old.’’
Accordingly, he found his elderly customers were not that different than his restaurant customers – they also wanted good ingredients and flavours they could taste.
Case in point, his chocolate pudding recipe - a Dilmah rose and vanilla tea chocolate fondant, using artisan Hogarth chocolate from Nelson.
‘‘It’s probably the most expensive chocolate you can buy in New Zealand. There’s no budget restrictions on me for doing the food, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it.’’
Gareth Carden, Metlifecare’s food and beverage advisor, says residents were always able to tweak their food or ask for light options, but Gault’s involvement adds ‘‘a level of sophistication’’.
Ryman’s decision to offer more than one meal option has made life more complex in the kitchen, but it’s been worth it, Ryman’s hospitality services manager, Andrew Gibson, says.
Like Metlifecare, Ryman has been conducting satisfaction surveys of its residents, and the results were something of a revelation.
Firstly, it was clear that bland food was not what they wanted. ln came the osso bucco and salmon cakes.
‘‘As we age our sense of taste diminishes. That’s why we have to think harder about taste and flavour.’’ Andrew Gibson of Ryman
‘‘As we age our sense of taste diminishes. That’s why we have to think harder about taste and flavour,’’ Gibson said.
Fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables were also top of mind, while fish and chips – previously thought to be an all-round favourite – proved deeply polarising.
‘‘There’s a lot of nostalgia around food for all of us. They probably used to have their own vege garden, grow or preserve food so they want those sorts of flavours.’’
Gibson says operators are aware of the big social role that meal times play in residents’ lives.
‘‘It’s so important. And we don’t just serve our residents, we serve their families and it comes back to us in survey results.
‘‘If they say Mum and Dad don’t like the food, that’s a bad result for us.’’
Summerset does things slightly differently. It outsources its food, a great thing for the residents of its Wigram village, which snagged top-rated White Tie Catering.
It also recognised the social value of a good coffee.
‘‘We were the first retirement village operator to introduce cafes into our villages and nearly all of our villages now have cafes that offer a range of food with baristamade coffee,’’ Summerset’s chief executive Julian Cook adds.
As the first of the baby boomer generation hit their early 70s. John Collyns expects the foodies among them will no doubt be a force to be reckoned with.
‘‘But at the end of the day, we’ve always taken the position that an 80-year-old, regardless of whatever demographic or generation they’re from, want four things,’’ he says.
‘‘A warm, comfortable secure place to live, enough money to live on, friends and companionship because social isolation is a major health issue for older people, and fourthly a pathway to care should you need it.
‘‘And food is part of that.’’