Alfriston College catering students are using their skills to make Meals on Wheels more appealing to more cultures. Rowena Orejana reports.
At just 16, Samantha Payne dreams of becoming a chef and has recently gained insight into what elderly people want in their food. "They want to enjoy their meals,'' says Samantha, who is one of 11 Alfriston College students preparing a culturally specific menu for local elderly people who are no longer able to cook for themselves.
"They say they're not going to be here long and they want something that tastes good. They don't necessarily worry about what's in it.''
After a survey of its Meals on Wheels clients, Counties Manukau District Health Board found that 20 per cent were not entirely satisfied.
The reason, says project coordinator and dietitian Kaye Dennison, was that the service was not fully providing for Maori and Polynesian tastes.
"We have very few Maori and Pacific people because, in their culture, they have younger
people who look after the older people,'' says Mrs Dennison. "But there were real issues about the need to have a menu that reflects their culture.''
The board is employing the services of the students to ensure those needs are met.
"This is the first time that Maori and Pacific menus have been developed for our use. I am unaware of it happening anywhere in New Zealand,'' says Mrs Dennison.
Matching nutrition with Maori and Pacific tastes became the challenge for Samantha and
her 10 classmates in the Alfriston College food technology class. The students have been testing the food with about 30 Maori and Pacific staff. So far, the meals have been given the thumbs-up, with a few minor tweaks.
"The main thing is to make the food tasty and appealing,'' says Alfriston food technology
teacher Mary Mason. "We took some recipes from Maori and Pacific cookbooks and the
students did their own twist.''
Samantha is enjoying working on the menu and discovering that the needs of her community can be met.
"I've learned a lot about how to provide meals for different people, how different cultures use different ingredients, like coconut cream and pineapple,'' says the budding chef.
"The interesting thing is that people who deliver the meals are volunteers and the majority of them are elderly. They don't get paid yet they go to so much effort. It's very caring.
"Doing my part is pretty cool and I want to be like that some day.''
What's on the menu?
Lunch should contain 600 kilocalories for energy, 18g of protein and 400 milligrammes of
calcium.
The students make meals such as sapasui (chicken chop suey), boiled taro and coconut sauce, pulasami (stuffed leaves of taro root in coconut milk) and kokalaisa (cocoa rice pudding).
Ms Mason says some European meals have also been given a Pacific twist.
"In our Pacific shepherds pie we used corned beef,'' she says. They have also tested kumara and pork loaf after finding out that these two ingredients work well.
The group will soon present three Pacific meals and two Maori meals, with desserts such
as pineapple pie without pastry and tropical fruit salad to the representatives of the
district health board.
Food just like grandma made
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.