Catering


daunting to begin with, they quickly realise that interesting, nutritious and varied meals can be achieved easily – whether through simple tweaks or substitutions to existing dishes, or by expanding their repertoire, with the aid of our extensive bank of recipes.”


A crucial element of this is dementia care, with around 70 per cent of all care home residents living with dementia. To that end, we developed a Memory Care Pledge that contains five key measures to ensure that vegetarian and vegan residents can continue living the rest of their lives the way they intended. It is a promise that their beliefs and values will be upheld and respected even if and when they experience cognitive losses or capacity issues. Amanda Woodvine, chief executive of Vegetarian for Life, explains how it works: “The pledge asks care homes to commit


to five simple good practice points. These involve giving residents options and making sure their opinions are sought and listened to. Establishments should consider how inclusive their catering is for celebrations – for example, providing a vegan birthday cake – and respecting how people want to eat as well as what they eat, for example on a meat-free table if possible. It’s also about being alive to the possibility of problems with cognition, and ensuring that these are handled in accordance with people’s deeply held philosophical beliefs. Such recommendations are suggested because Vegetarian for Life is aware of vegetarian residents experiencing issues with capacity or cognition who may otherwise pick meat


June 2025 www.thecarehomeenvironment.com


Catering for dietary needs is a question of dignity, autonomy, and respect


from others’ plates.” Over 300 care homes have so far chosen to make the pledge – a number that is rising steadily as staff in each setting are trained individually.


Chris Bonner explains that this need not be as hard as people may think: “We see the Memory Care Pledge as about making staff aware as that has the biggest impact, but we also provide a lot of resources centrally. We work on a bi-annual menu cycle, and within that there is always a meat-free option as one of the three main choices each meal. We need to deal with the diversity of our residents, and we use an internal intranet page with a recipe database which covers different medical, cultural, religious, vegetarian and vegan options. All 300+ homes have access to those recipes, and it is a live document that links back to each resident’s care plan and diet notification form. There’s also flexibility in there: we do have a core menu cycle, but chefs have the autonomy to change dishes for their residents.” Ultimately, all of us working in care want the same things. To support some of our most vulnerable citizens in having the best possible last months and years of their lives. For them to be able to live with dignity, their autonomy respected, in accordance with their deepest values and beliefs. For many


people, diet is a core part of that – veganism and vegetarianism, but also religious diets – and that is only going to increase. Let us give Ann Moulds the last word: “Mum is in her final years of her life, and we should have been enjoying the time we have left with her not fighting a battle for her to get her a standard of care that would ensure her physical, mental wellbeing and safety.” That does not seem a lot to ask.


n


Moussa Haddad


Moussa is head of research and policy at Vegetarian for Life, working with parliamentarians, regulators and other stakeholders to promote systemic change to benefit older vegans and vegetarians. He has over twenty years’ experience in policy and research, at organisations including Oxfam and Child Poverty Action Group, where he led on work relating to food insecurity.


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