VintageBites Culinary Roadshow visits aged care homes around NSW
Date: 9 February 2016
Whiddon’s VintageBites Culinary Roadshow is on the move! The Roadshow began in Bathurst late last and has since visited Whiddon’s homes in Narrabri, Wee Waa and the Hunter in early 2016.
The Culinary Roadshow is part of VintageBites, a new Creative Ageing program run exclusively by aged care provider Whiddon. The program aims to create a sense of community, offer opportunities for older people to create new social connections and bring people together through food, cooking and storytelling.
In addition to the Culinary Roadshow, the VintageBites program includes activities around cooking and sharing family or traditional recipes, learning and teaching food crafts such as jam making and baking, visits by nutritionists, and a digital element to the program where seniors share their crafts and recipes both with the group and online on YouTube.
The Culinary Roadshow is hosted by Whiddon’s Food & Beverage Manager and qualified chef, Maryanne Kerin, and sees residents and community care clients head behind the scenes into the homes’ main kitchen, sample home cooked treats and be entertained by the theatre of the cooking demonstration.
Residents from the aged care homes and seniors from Whiddon’s Community Care services are invited to attend the VintageBites cooking demonstrations, where Kerin whips up a delicious prawn fried rice and chocolate éclairs in front of the audience. Attendees are often invited to assist and all are presented with the freshly prepared items to sample at the end of the demonstration, much to the audience’s delight.
Speaking on why the organisation chose a program based on food, Karn Nelson, Whiddon’s Executive General Manager Strategy and Research, said, “Food is a huge and emotive subject for many people, in particular the older generation. It touches on many different areas of life and experience and is intrinsically linked with our social selves.”
“For many older people experiencing frailty or poor health, food is a vehicle that can still bring great comfort, improve health and wellbeing and provide opportunities to celebrate and socialise. It is also an area where skills, knowledge and creativity can continue to grow and develop at any age.”
About VintageBites
VintageBites was established in 2015 and is currently being trialled at Whiddon as part of the organisation’s creative ageing offering.
Recent research from Whiddon revealed that levels of loneliness amongst older Australians are as high as 47%. In addition to providing an outlet for creativity, Vintage Bites directly addresses this issue of social isolation and loneliness, providing opportunities for regular social interaction and celebration of food. The program involves volunteers, friends and families as well as the older people that we care for. The program opens doors for people to come together, collaborate, celebrate and socialise.
VintageBites videos covering meals, food crafts, food culture, nutrition and more will be uploaded to Whiddon’s YouTube Channel on a regular basis.