When our catering partner, apetito, offered us the opportunity to find out more about where they source their food and how they create the dishes that our residents eat, we jumped at the chance!
So, instead of sending a representative from our management team, we decided the people who would get the most from the trip would be our cooks. However, with apetito wanting to film the journey, we knew we had to pick a pair of cooks who could also turn their hands to being film stars… Cue Andrew from Lisburne Court and Norbert from Reinbek.
We kitted them out with some brand-new chef whites and put them on the train to Kent for the first stop on their farm to plate tour.
Andrew says: “We arrived at Fourayes Farm just as the sun broke through the sky and it was unbelievably beautiful. We were given a tour of the farm; learnt a bit about the history of this family-run farm; and then were let loose and told to pick the apples we needed in the beautiful, English sunshine.”
Norbert and Andrew then transported the freshly-picked apples back to apetito’s state-of-the-art, development kitchen in Wiltshire.
apetito is the leading food producer for the health and social care sector, developing great tasting dishes alongside nutritionists, dieticians and food scientists, to create healthy, ethical and easy to eat meals for our residents and lots of other customers.
Andrew was very impressed with their set up: “When we arrived at apetito, we were given a tour of their whole site, including a brand-new, sparkling, industrial development kitchen where apetito creates and tests dishes. After this, we put on our aprons and got our hands dirty in the kitchen where we belong! Cooking the apples to get the consistency absolutely right for our residents and making the pastry from scratch.
“It was daunting being filmed throughout the whole two-day trip, but once Norbert and I got into the kitchen, we really relaxed – after all, cooking is what we love to do!
“It has been an amazing thing to see the effort and care that goes into the food that our residents enjoy at Borough Care. Now that I’ve seen the journey the food takes, it has inspired me to get even more creative with the presentation of my food at Lisburne Court; I want to show off the magnificent produce on offer and ensure it looks just as good as it tastes for our residents.”
Norbert added: “The trip has been an amazing experience and has really opened my eyes. So many people have preconceptions about frozen food – where it comes from and how it is made, so I was surprised and impressed with how much care goes into the process.
Both the farm and apetito have such high standards when it comes to their produce and how they use it. My favourite part of the trip was going to the farm and picking the apples: the farm was so beautiful and the produce amazing. It has really changed the way I feel about the food we get delivered to Borough Care. We look after a lot of residents who live with dementia and it is vital that they get the nutrition they need to stay healthy and well. Since Borough Care have been partnering with apetito our residents are eating more, putting on weight and enjoying their food. This is all you can ask for as a chef!”
Thank you so much to apetito for inviting us to be a part of this video and offering us the chance to find out more about what they do. You can see the video here.