Food Glorious Food…

Chef Jon Smith introduces personalised and specialised menu options at Saint Catherine’s.

Eating well is important to all of us and has major implications for our health in so many ways. Healthy eating, balanced diets, vitamins and minerals are all well documented as being vital to maintaining our physical and mental health, however when we are ill sometimes eating well drops down our list of priorities or can even become a challenge to cope with.

Patients at Saint Catherine’s are being provided with the highest possible quality and personal choices around food as part of new ideas being introduced by Chef Jon Smith and his team.

Staff have recognised that sometimes patients don’t want big meals, the timing of food might not be right for them, they may struggle with swallowing or could even be experiencing difficulties with symptoms and side effects from medication that make them feel nauseous. All  these factors have been built into the new approach Jon is taking with his team as he explains:

“I’ve created a range of homemade frozen meals that patients and families can grab at any time and reheat themselves on the unit to enable them to eat tasty and healthy meals whenever they want. I’ve also introduced a ‘portion size’ option when people are ordering food – from mini to maxi – so they can match what they want to their appetite on the day.”

In addition to the food options a new ‘Smoothies and Milkshakes’ menu now offers a chance to ‘pick your own’ from a huge range of ingredients including fresh fruit and vegetables, chocolate, peanut butter and more. These are a great way to get lots of good nutrition in a playful way that can be much easier to manage.

Infusions have been developed to help relieve some common symptoms such as nausea or indigestion and lots of natural flavours such as elderflower, ginger and peppermint are available to combine and create soothing and warming drinks with added health benefits.

Food can also play a special part in people’s lives and the team have set up a dining room where patients and families can get together and enjoy their meals rather than staying their rooms and they regularly organise some special treats – a romantic meal for two, a 90^th birthday afternoon tea and an anniversary celebration are just a few recent examples.

Finally the staff were delighted to recently receive a wonderful donation of traditional sweets from J Mollon Sweet Shop in Scarborough which are now on offer to patients and families in the newly refurbished family room and through a regular ‘sweetie round’ on the unit.

Members of the public can also enjoy the delights of Jon Smith’s fabulous food at the onsite bistro Flavours, which has been open since March, Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm and is helping to raise the funds needed to keep Saint Catherine’s delivering their care and support.