Village Green hosts new menu taste panel for residents, families and staff

Dietary team using feedback to enhance mealtime quality

Village Green’s nutritional care team hosted a taste panel March 13 for residents, families and staff members to showcase the foods being offered in the next menu cycle and to use feedback to enhance mealtime quality.

The event garnered a large turnout of folks who sampled the new starters, main courses and desserts, which included pulled pork, cornflake chicken, chicken souvlaki, cabbage rolls, pita bread with tzatziki sauce, cucumber salad, macaroni salad, tiramisu mousse and cranberry-apple crisp.

“We thought it would be a good idea to do a taste panel of various items and have the residents, staff and family members try it and let us know if there were any improvements we could make, or let us know of anything they liked or didn’t like so we could get some feedback from them,” explains nutritional care manager Miranda Ray.

While a large number of the Greater Napanee long-term care home’s residents enjoy traditional meat-and-potatoes fare, Miranda says there’s a growing number of younger residents moving into Village Green who enjoy a wider range of foods, and the new menu meets that need.

“Some of the residents do like to eat things like souvlaki chicken, and they’re used to going to restaurants and getting those meals, so incorporating (these items) and having the older generation of residents try them, that is actually going over pretty well, which is nice to see,” she says.

Miranda notes that some items were especially well-received.

“The cornflake chicken was absolutely a hit with everyone – everyone loved it,” she says. “The cranberry-apple crisp was also a big hit as well as the cucumber salad and the macaroni salad –we got rave reviews about these menu items.”

Miranda says the No. 1 thing she took away from the taste panel is that the nutritional care team is doing an excellent job and that the residents are happy with the food.

“Our staff is awesome; they work really hard,” says Miranda, who has been Village Green’s nutritional care manager since November. “They have really taken well to me and the changes I have made as well as giving me ideas of where we can take meal service.”

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