Page 41 - Vibrant Living Scrapbook

From Garden To Table
Inspired by the Slow Food movement, Idylwood Care Center in Sunnyvale, CA, offers residents a smorgasbord of food-related group activities. Nearly all residents join in one or more of some 40 offerings each week of gardening, food preparation, cooking and eating.
Naturally when the residents’ organic garden began yielding bumper crops, Administrator Franco Diamond sought to incorporate
the bounty into the facility’s regular menu prepared in the central kitchen. That idea was nixed by state requirements that all such food come from certified sources.
Diamond found a silver lining in the regulations: Though central kitchen can’t serve the garden produce to the resident population at large, residents can individually choose to eat it. Vegetables from the garden now go
to the “activities kitchen,” separate from the main kitchen, where residents prepare favorite family dishes, concoct new recipes and enjoy the end results with friends. Residents sign an authorization stating they are voluntarily participating in these activities. The process gives them a chance to make decisions and exert a little control over their lives, says Diamond. Plus, their nutritional habits are improving. Everyone is so full of vegetables that by the time the “goodie cart” rolls around, there are few takers of its sugary pastries and candy, he adds.
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