specialty focus
In equal measure
Maggie Beer is a long-time advocate for better nutrition in aged care . All photos : supplied
Online masterclass aims to improve the “ pleasure and nutrition ” of food in aged care .
Maggie Beer interviewed by Eleanor Campbell
Aged care chefs and cooks will learn how to create tasty pureed meals , design a culturally inclusive menu , and learn to flavour finger food as part of a new online masterclass developed by the Maggie Beer Foundation .
The first education program of its type in the world , the training program offers 30-minute modules featuring the iconic restaurateur cooking with some of the industry ’ s top chefs and nutrition experts .
Beer , a passionate advocate for improved food in aged care , says the program offers chefs essential guidance on how to create a pleasurable dining experience .
“ The cook or chef has to be empowered with knowledge because what we want is a beautiful meal full of equal measures
20 agedcareinsite . com . au of pleasure and nutrition ,” Beer told Aged Care Insite .
“ We also have to give cooks and chefs the support and time they need , because they work so hard in an incredibly complex role .
“ To do that we need better training , and these modules are a start .”
Beer joined Aged Care Insite to dish about her new masterclass and what makes a good aged care chef .
ACI : This has been in the works for quite a while now . What are the main skills and tools that aged-care chefs can expect to take away from this masterclass ? MB : After doing masterclasses face to face for five to six years , we realised the most important things to share with the cooks and chefs . These include rethinking texture-modified food ; how we can do it beautifully .
There ’ s also cooking techniques with impact , and by that I mean the right cooking technique to give maximum flavour . Another is tempting finger food , and also including the dining experience .
Another is embracing the diverse cultures and food culture of first Australians . And delivering higher protein all through the day . There ’ s also food presentation , maximising flavour and engaging the senses . You can see there ’ s quite a bit we have done .
As we know , over 50 per cent of agedcare residents have dementia and might need pureed meals . Can an aged-care chef cook a pureed meal while also making it pleasurable for someone to eat ? Absolutely , they can . I have two experts that I ’ ve used for this : Peter Morgan- Jones , who was for many , many years at Hammond Homes ; and Amanda Orchard , who is now our chef for the foundation but was a specialist in texture-modified food before she came on board .
I have seen her cooking and Peter ’ s : the smells of such beautiful ingredients .