Meet care home chef tasked with preparing festive feast
Our 12 Days of Caring series, running up to Christmas Eve, is saluting the exceptional work of the care sector during a tough year in which staff have had to go the extra mile. reports...
CHEF Isadora Esmeraldo is charged with the responsibility of ensuring the traditional Christmas Day lunch is cooked to the tastes of the residents at Oakland Grange Care Home in Southsea.
Isadora, 41, said: ‘The residents love their traditional Christmas dinner which includes roast turkey with all the trimmings.
‘For dessert they have a choice of Christmas pudding or sweet mince pies with custard.
‘We also have all the table decorations including festive crackers and it is always a great event which the residents and staff look forward to.’
Isadora is preparing for the home’s annual Christmas party with a ‘selection of finger food, sausage rolls and mince pies’.
However, it is not just over the festive period that Isadora’s culinary skills are put to the test with breakfasts, lunches and dinners having to be prepared each day along with a daily delivery of tea and cakes.
The chef added: ‘The residents love their cakes, which we serve at 10am and 3pm each day. For main meals, roast dinner and cottage pie is the most popular choice and many residents love to have a cooked breakfast.
‘However, while we have a set menu, I also like to give people what they want and many will ask for specific things like an omelette or jacket potato.
‘I love to come out and interact with the residents and this is the best part of the job.
‘I love to see their faces – they always give you a smile and they will tell straight away how much they enjoyed the food.’
Isadora trained as a chef working at a hotel in the Channel Islands before moving to Oakland Grange in 2016.
She added: ‘I wanted to do something new and challenge myself working in a different environment. I really enjoy cooking for the residents.’
The News has joined other organisations across Portsmouth to thank staff in the care industry after what has been a tougher year than most.
We are profiling 12 people who work in care in our 12 Days of Caring series.
Shaping Portsmouth is organising city groups and businesses including the University of Portsmouth, Wightlink and Hovertravel to purchase £70 Christmas hampers and deliver them to the 39 care homes in the city, as well as to homecare providers.
There will be a carol concert for care homes broadcast on the Portsmouth Music Hub YouTube channel at 2.30pm tomorrow.
The Portsmouth Carols for Care initiative has seen the recording of classic festive tunes performed St John’s Cathedral Catholic Primary School, St John’s College, Corpus Christi Primary and St Paul’s Catholic Primary, as well as music from the Portsmouth Hub Chamber Choir and St Mary’s Church along with the Salvation Army.
NEIL FATKIN