Page 7 - Life Happens in the Kitchen

INTRODUCTION
Page 1
New Dining Practices
For decades, the meal tray has been the center of institutional food service.
Who can forget the school lunch line as children, with its limited choice and often equally limited intake? Did you ever barter or sell your least-liked items to your
peers? Or, did you just cover them with your napkin and sneak up to the trash can to hopefully hide the waste, and of course, the missed opportunities for nutritious intake? Yet today, our children and grandchildren often enjoy a fresh salad bar with choice galore; pizza from the best local pizza place and sometimes even grilled to order burgers. Our elders deserve the same!
Likewise, healthcare food service has historically also been centered on tray service. Our patients and residents have similarly given their food to family, visitors or others who will eat it. They may have quietly covered their virtually
untouched plate with their napkin and left the table or
pushed the tray away, still hungry and unnourished.
Fortunately today, elders in many of our long term care facilities are now enjoying the smells and tastes of bacon and cinnamon rolls as they awake, choosing from a tempting restaurant-style menu or enticing buffet line and sharing the fellowship of their neighbors in family style meal service. Some enjoy the traditional three meals and three snack pattern. Others find dining options nearly continuously throughout the day with a five-meal plan.
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