Catering
explains how it works: “The pledge asks care homes to commit to five simple good practice points. These involve giving residents options and ensuring their opinions are sought and listened to. Establishments should consider how inclusive their catering is for celebrations – for example, providing a vegan birthday cake. They should respect 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 VfL is aware of vegetarian residents experiencing issues with capacity or cognition and who may inadvertently pick meat from others’ plates.” Recent figures show that the number of residents following a vegan diet in UK residential care homes has risen by 167 per cent since 2014. However, not all care establishments provide inclusive menu options or a range of dishes that are nutritionally balanced. Furthermore, not all catering staff are aware or have been trained to fully understand what a veg*n will and will not eat. An inquiry into the protection of philosophical or religious beliefs while eating in care has revealed examples of basic failings in care homes and hospitals
Sticky Toffee Pudding
During our care catering training, this recipe has proved to be a firm favourite with both staff and residents.
Serves: 6–8 Time to prepare: 20 mins Time to cook: 40 mins Dietary requirements: Dairy-free, Egg-free, Vegan
Ingredients 200ml soya milk 200g/7oz pitted dates, chopped 1 tbsp black treacle 1 tsp vanilla essence 100g/3½oz vegan margarine 80g/generous 2¾oz soft brown sugar 100g/3½oz walnuts, finely chopped 200g/7oz self-raising flour 1 tsp baking powder
For the toffee sauce 50g/1¾oz soft brown sugar 100g/3½oz light brown sugar 50g/1¾oz soya milk 1 tsp vanilla essence Small pinch of salt
Instructions Preheat oven to 180°C/360°F/gas mark 4. Place the soya milk, dates, and treacle into a saucepan and gently heat. Simmer for a few minutes or until the dates start to break up. Mash the mixture or blend with an electric hand blender. Add the vanilla, margarine, sugar, and nuts. Continue to gently heat until the margarine has melted. Remove from the heat. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the cake mixture. Do not over mix because this will result in a heavy cake. Transfer the mixture to a greased round ovenproof dish, 5cm deep by 23cm across.
Other shapes will work fine, but the mixture should cover the base to a depth of approximately 4cm.
Bake for 35 minutes. Test if the cake is
cooked by gently inserting a skewer. If not cooked, return to the oven for another 5 minutes and retest.
While the cake is cooking, make the sauce. Simply place all of the sauce ingredients into a pan and gently simmer for 10 minutes.
When the cake is cooked, remove from
the oven and gently make a series of holes in it with a skewer. The holes will allow the sauce to soak into the cake. Spoon half of the sauce over the top. Serve each portion with a small spoonful of additional toffee sauce.
For an extra treat, serve with vegan custard or ice-cream. This can be made gluten free by replacing the flour with self-raising gluten free flour.
May 2023
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com 23
religious and philosophical beliefs, including veganism, and to fully understand the importance of these beliefs.
n Dietary guides in kitchens – ensuring that dietary practices arising from protected philosophical beliefs, such as veganism and vegetarianism, are easy to understand and accessible for chefs.
VfL’s UK List
when it comes to protecting the human rights of meat-free patients receiving care. Led by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Vegetarianism and Veganism, the report highlighted cases where the diets of older vegans and vegetarians have been misunderstood or even ignored. The report makes recommendations to start the process of improvement and set minimum standards for care, with a specific focus on food. The report calls for: n Strengthening care regulations and related guidance – by recognising that philosophical beliefs are as important as an individual’s religious beliefs or cultural background.
n Introducing mandatory training – helping carers to learn more about
There are currently more than 17,000 care homes for older people in the UK, between them catering for over 7,000 vegans and vegetarians. Almost 1 in 6 of these homes are now committed to veggie catering excellence via membership of our UK List. Becoming a VfL UK List member is a great way to demonstrate that you meet all your veg*n residents’ dietary needs. Plus you will be joining some of the UK’s leading care homes and food suppliers, committed to providing the best possible catering options. This is what some of our members had to say about membership.
Testimonials Nick Dutton, operations manager at Primrose Bank Care Home and deputy chair of the National Association of Care Catering, says: “We noticed a lot more vegetarians and vegans coming into our care home. We’ve taken the VfL Memory Care Pledge to help
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