Everyone deserves to eat good, nutritious food

No matter what stage of life a person is at, food remains one of life’s great pleasures for physical and mental health. This could not ring truer for Juniper Hospitality Services Manager John Rabone, who regularly provides training and development for our chefs to ensure every Juniper resident can access good, nutritious food.

“At Juniper, our modified food options do not sacrifice nutrition and taste. We believe that everyone deserves to eat good, nutritious food,” John said.

John has just completed his next round of International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI) texture modification training for Juniper’s chefs. John enjoys sharing this knowledge with all our chefs.

Nutrition becomes increasingly important as we age, with older people requiring higher levels of vitamin D, vitamin B12, protein, fibre, and calcium. The IDDSI provides a clear and consistent guideline regarding food texture modification and liquid consistency.

“At Juniper, we believe that food and nutrition have a major role in meeting the physical and functional needs of our residents and our meals contribute significantly to their quality of life.
It is important that our residents are provided with food and liquid of appropriate texture and consistency,” John said.

“A lot of chefs come into aged care and think we just stick our food into a blender. We do not. We texture modify the main course of all our menus, and add additional nutritional ingredients, such as protein, to ensure our residents not only get the same taste as everyone else, but so we can also cater to their dietary requirements and keep them strong and healthy.”

All of Juniper’s 24 residential aged care homes have some residents on a textured modified diet that follows the IDDSI guidelines.

“All our meals are personalised for our residents. Everyone deserves to eat good food and we do all we can so they can continue to enjoy a life well lived,” John said.

Juniper residents are also served their meals with the highest quality dining experience through the Juniper Dignity in Nutritional Excellence (DINE) program. This program not only considers the food served but the dining experience. Residents receive top-quality table settings, table service, and meal presentations.