Dining through the decades – Eye care home takes a trip down memory lane

Residents at a care home in Eye have taken a trip down memory lane in a bid to save traditional recipes from being forgotten.

To ensure family recipes passed down through generations are not lost forever, Sous Chef, John Shead, and the Lifestyle team at Care UK’s Hartismere Place, on Castleton Way, have compiled residents’ food favourites from the past into the care home’s very own cook book. 

After an old cook book was discovered at the home, food memories became a hot topic of conversation at Hartismere Place. The team and residents decided to get to work, putting their heads together during the monthly resident meeting and during a reminiscence session, and put together a new version of the original cook book – with their own recipes

The special includes 96-year-old Edna Hicks’ French onion soup. She commented: “My grandmother always made French onion soup because she grew lots of onions. If there was soup left over, she would make a thick onion gravy which we would sometimes have with sausages.”

83-year-old resident Doreen Hunt’s Shepard’s pie was also included in the book. Doreen said: “Because we were a big family of seven, the Shepard’s pie was made in the biggest dish we had and would just fit in the aga. We would have the leftovers the next day.” 

Daniel Street, the Head Chef at Hartismere Place, also added some of his food favourites to the book, including pesto chicken with tagliatelle. Resident Jill Gough, age 76, commented: “I have never had a dish like this and have never heard of pesto, tagliatelle or crème fraiche, I’m still not sure what that is.” After trying the dish, Jill said: “I found the pesto sauce to be a bit of a mystery and different, but very enjoyable. I also really enjoyed trying the hunter’s chicken.”

Sherry trifle was also added to the cook book – reminiscing Cynthia Ridger, age 95, said: “Sometimes we would have trifle on Christmas day if we were unable to get dried fruit to make Christmas pudding as it was rationed.” 

The recipe book also featured 87-year-old Margaret Debenham’s bread and butter pudding, she said: “We had this for our pudding on a Sunday, as it used all of the stale bread. Sometimes it seemed as if it was just bread as dried fruit was rationed and there was so little put in. I liked it when the bread on the top had gone crispy and we sometimes had it with custard.”

Claire Martin, Home Manager at Hartismere Place, said: “We’ve certainly been whipping up some treats here at Hartismere Place as we headed to the kitchen to revisit residents’ food favourites from decades gone by.

“Regardless of age, food plays an important part in all of our lives, and there’s something special about the way the senses have the ability to evoke happy memories and emotions – which is why keeping old family recipes bubbling away is so important.

“Residents have certainly enjoyed re-discovering some of their favourite foods from the past and are delighted that they’re now part of the Hartismere Place cook book. Our chefs are thrilled to have put a smile on so many residents faces and helped bring back these wonderful dishes.”

Helping the chef’s decide which recipes to incorporate onto the new recipe book were pupils from St Peter & St Paul CE Primary School, who joined the residents for a morning cooking and taster session. 

Copies of the cook book and the dishes are now available from The Four Horseshoes pub in Thornham Magna, Eye. 

Care UK has also launched a free downloadable recipe book – Recipes to remember, which features recipes shared by care home residents across the UK. From food enjoyed during World War Two to quirky desserts from the 1970s, the book includes residents’ favourite foods, alongside recipes tailored to support older people by Care UK’s award-winning chefs. 

To find out more about Care UK’s Recipes to remember initiative or to download your copy of the recipe book, please visit: careuk.com/recipes-to-remember

Hartismere Placehas been designed to deliver the very best standards of care and to enable residents to live active and fulfilled lives. The home provides full-time residential, residential dementia, as well as short term respite care. The team also operates a day centre, the Hartismere Place Day Club, open to the community throughout the week.