Menu trials give residents a taste for the Spice of Life

Kingfisher Herondale care home in Birmingham hosted a ‘Spice of Life’ event to mark their work with Unilever to introduce a wider range of flavours and spices from different cultures into the home’s menu offering. 

And menus trialled could now be made available to all care homes that Unilever supply across the country, in addition to MHA's.

The Spice of Life initiative was inspired by MHA chef, Peter Liptak, who had been exploring new recipes in order to cater to varied tastes of residents. The Kingfisher Herondale residents come from a mix of backgrounds, with around 15 languages spoken in the home. 

Guests at the launch event sampled a variety of the new flavoursome dishes. Unilever, provider of the food to many MHA care homes, has been working with Peter Liptak and the rest of the Kingfisher team to develop new menu options that incorporate the variety of trialled flavours.

A number of the recipes on offer were family recipes shared by the Kingfisher Herondale residents and their relatives. If successful, these dishes could be rolled out and made available to care homes providers nationwide, who are looking to cater to a wide variety of tastes.

The care home’s own residents are thoroughly enjoying the new flavours showcased at the event so far. Staff report that some individuals, who usually struggle to finish a whole meal, are clearing their entire plate because they are enjoying the tastes so much more.

Peter Liptak, chef at MHA said: “The Spice of Life event was a real celebration of the diversity at Kingfisher Herondale – and Birmingham as a whole. It’s always been important to MHA to make residents feel at home, and this is what our food project aims to do by introducing familiar dishes and flavours to our current menus.

“I’m delighted that the initial idea has grown to such an extent, and thrilled that The Spice of Life initiative has real potential to transform care home menus nationwide – and care home experiences for thousands of people as a result.”

Unilever Food Solutions Development Chef for Elderly Care, Paul Wright who has worked closely with MHA on this project, said “Our long running partnership with MHA has allowed us to incorporate our ingredients into the menus to add additional layers of flavour in dishes to enhance the residents meal time experience”.