Page 4 - LG Newsletter Spring 2021_Final.pptx

4 LANSDOWNE NEWS, WINTER 2021

Health & Wellbeing

Evoking Memories Through the Power of Food

Food is more than nourishment ‐ it has the power to The aromatic slow‐cooked beef, bean and mushroom
fuel the mind and body, expresses cultural diversity dish, Pepper Pot, is a favourite of Christine’s children.
and most of all, bring people together. As a therapy Christine loved to entertain, with the dish often
to help combat dementia, cooking can also trigger served to guests at gatherings. Legend has it that the
memories through taste, smell, touch, sight and dish is actually not as peppery as the name suggests
sound. At Cranbrook Care’s Bayswater Gardens, –just tasty!
residents Mina, Gae and Christine have been cooking
up a storm while taking a trip down memory lane. Cranbrook Care values the importance of tradition,
togetherness and cultural connection among
Grandmothers seem to possess a natural gift when it residents and their families. Cooking holds great
comes to cooking, with their recipes are often sentimental value to many of the Bayswater Gardens
handed down to be enjoyed by future generations to residents, with getting into the kitchen providing the
come. Mina, Gae and Christine ‐ three inner west added bonus of helping to maintain mental and
grandmothers ‐ have agreed to share their special physical wellbeing. Older Australians can benefit
recipes, which have either been passed down by from cooking through sensory therapy, which has
family members, or are now being shared to begin a been widely recognised with helping to treat
new tradition for generations to come. conditions such as dementia. Stimulating the sense
Italian born Mina’s delicious Italian Lasagne is of taste and smell with particular types of food may
legendary –made even better by the pasta that Mina spark pleasant memories and emotions, triggering
used to make by hand. Mina’s daughter, Claudia nostalgic recollections of a time gone by*.
Rinaldi, sourced the recipe from an old book written
in her mother’s native tongue. “I covet Mum’s old The sense of taste has the strongest of associative
recipe books ‐ especially the Italian ones ‐ they evoke memories that someone can make. Food memories
such amazing memories for the whole family,” said are more sensory than other memories in that they
Claudia. “I hope that future generations will enjoy involve all five senses ‐ sight, taste, smell, touch and
this same delicious meal for years to come.” sound, which offers the potential to layer the
richness of a food‐associated memory . Grandmas
Gae’s sponge cake recipe, Oma’s Sponge, was also around the world have served as sources of never‐
handed down from family members and has become ending culinary knowledge, using their skills and
a tradition in the Frecklington household. family recipes to bring joy to others. The memories
Gae’s son Adrian says that his grandmother’s that come from meals enjoyed with friends and
traditional sponge cake was often whipped up in family can be just as sentimental as the meal itself!
minutes with no recipe, and was so delicious that it *Source: huffpost.com
often won prizes at local shows. Pictured: Adrian & Gae making Oma’s Sponge