As part of our ‘Healthy Body, Healthy Mind’ series, we spoke with George De Battista, Group Hotel Services Manager at Elysium, about the innovative educational best practice days his team experience and how what they learn benefits the people we support.
“Providing the best possible all-round service for the people we support is our priority as a team always, and a huge part of that is making sure their nutrition and meals not only meet their physical health needs, but are also enjoyable.
“As a team responsible for catering for thousands of people – both those we support and our colleagues – it’s important that we are constantly learning and evolving our practices. As part of that we hold regular best practice away days.
“The most recent was held by two of our regular suppliers, and it was a fantastic chance to learn more directly from the suppliers of the fruits, vegetables and meats we use in our meals.
“During the days we not only learn more from the supplier, the team also learn about the different ways the ingredients can be used and we often have the opportunity to visit the locations where these ingredients are grown. We also spend time with development chefs at these events, sharing best practice about innovative ways to create appetising, tasting and nutritious cutlery-free or reduced appetite meals.
“Getting to know the ingredients and the growers and suppliers better helps us understand more about how they can be used in recipes to be enjoyed in our services. As a team the days are inspiring and we share ideas about how the ingredients can create meals which are suitable for all kinds of dietary requirements from, for example, cutlery free diets to high protein diets, which may be required by some of the people we support.
“During a recent away day the catering teams also heard from specialist dieticians who shared information, strategies and best practice to help us make sure we are providing meals which meet people’s dietary needs, whatever they may be.
“These learning days have a hugely positive impact for everyone; our chefs and catering teams learn more about the ingredients they use and discover new ways to use them, they get to meet the growers and producers of these ingredients and understand their passion for providing the best quality foods possible and the people we support also benefit. The catering teams, thanks to learning opportunities such as these, are constantly honing their skills, enhancing and improving menus and choices and creating meals which positively support people’s physical health and wellbeing.
“Everyone wants to enjoy the food they eat, for it to be tasty, to know it has been made with care and using the best possible quality ingredients with a known provenance. That should happen wherever a person is eating their meals and through days such as these, we can continually empower our team to have the skills they need to create the very best meals for those we support. Enhancing nutritional wellbeing is key.”