Chef Serving Up Comfort for Aged Care Residents

Few things offer as much comfort and nourishment as a favourite meal. For Carinity Brownesholme aged care chef Nicolas Harth and his kitchen team, the act of caring through food brings its own reward.

Hailing from a family of chefs, donning the apron to follow his mother and older brother seemed like the natural choice for Nick. His career has taken him around the world and brought him back home.

He started as an apprentice chef in kitchens across Toowoomba. After finishing his four-year apprenticeship, Nick headed overseas where he gained the bulk of his experience.

“I worked in three-rosette restaurants – which are the equivalent of a Michelin star – with a brigade of chefs, before moving across to hotels, including boutique hotels in the beautiful Cotwolds in England,” he said.

When he returned home to Australia with his young family in tow, Nick found himself a different kind of challenge – working in a Highfields aged care home.

“Mum worked as a chef in aged care for a long time. I often used to help her out in the kitchen when I was an apprentice, so I had a good understanding of the differences in serving older diners,” he said.

“Mum used to always make things from scratch, so that was one of my prerequisites of coming to work at Brownesholme, that there would be no packet foods – not even soups.”

Adapting to the dietary requirements of 96 individual aged care residents gave Nick the opportunity to put his creative mind to work. A varied, flexible menu plays a big role in this.

Every afternoon Carinity Brownesholme residents are invited to choose what they’d like to eat the following day. Of course, just like at home, sometimes when the day arrives they feel like something else instead.

“We’re not a restaurant, but we try to have as many options as we can, so residents can usually find something they enjoy,” Nick said.

With many residents experiencing new dietary requirements, Nick always has a solution.

“We’ll try and personalise it as much as possible – I’ll always make the time to sit with them and understand what they need, to make sure they’re happy,” he said.

“It’s on us to maintain residents’ nutrition, so we’ve got to make it interesting, with good flavours and textures and all those elements that we take for granted. Making food as exciting as possible is really important.”

As the saying goes, we ‘eat with our eyes’, and it’s no different as we get older. It’s especially important for seniors on a texture-modified or soft diet. For Nick’s team, making soft food look as good as it tastes is something of an artform.

From food moulds to creative experiments, the team is always seeking new ways to offer variety and interest.

“I want to make sure that all the residents are enjoying the same food. The flavours should be there – this is just a different shape,” Nick explains.

After nearly four years serving residents at Carinity Brownesholme, there’s still more that Nick wants to do.

“Introducing a seasonal menu, increasing how much food we’re sourcing locally and staying focused on giving residents the best possible dining experience keeps me motivated.”

The happy chatter of residents as they share their meal together is also a great reward.

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