Driving the Plant-Based Revolution

Roving Chefs Bring Plant-Based Cuisine To Care Homes

The ‘Roving Chefs’ initiative from charity Vegetarian for Life (VfL) is helping care homes transform their plant-based meals by offering hands-on training and expert guidance. The charity has a team of four Roving Chefs in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow covering the whole country.

Roving Chefs Bring Plant-Based Training to Care Homes

The ’Roving Chefs’ are on the road delivering one day training sessions working with chefs, kitchen assistants and sometimes even residents, demonstrating how to create nutritious plant-based dishes from scratch. Recipes are from VfL’s “Veganising Classic Dishes” guide and include cottage pie, stroganoff and creamy soups, made without animal products. “These dishes are instantly recognisable, which helps residents feel at ease,” says Amanda Woodvine, chief executive, VfL.

The training course also covers lower cholesterol options for people managing conditions such as high blood pressure or cholesterol. For luxury care homes, a fine-dining twist can be introduced. “We design courses to match the setting, the skill level of the kitchen team and the budget,” adds Amanda.

As well as nutrition and cooking techniques, dignity and choice are also covered – such as how to support someone with dementia who has always been vegan or how to make meals appealing when a resident hasn’t much of an appetite. Advice is also given on how to cater for people with dysphagia.

Partnership with HC-One

HC-One, which has over 200 care homes, partnered with VfL to enhance its vegan and vegetarian offerings. VfL’s Roving Chef Alex Connell led a training day for chefs and kitchen assistants, demonstrating new ideas, tackling nutritional concerns and helping them cater for everyone from meat-reducers to long-term vegans. Following the course Victoria Meakin, Group Development Chef at HC-One, said, “We’ve noticed more residents choosing to eat less meat and more plant-based foods. Giving our chefs the confidence to introduce delicious vegan and vegetarian dishes into our homes not only meets this growing demand but also encourages a more diverse diet and promotes resident wellbeing.”

Training usually takes place in the care home kitchen, although VfL also offers virtual sessions or runs the course in a training kitchen. Feedback has been positive from participants. “Chefs often say they leave feeling more confident and inspired,” says Amanada. “Some have told us they’ve added new dishes to their regular menus and residents keep asking for them.” Some training sessions are free of charge, depending on funding and availability. In other cases, there may be a small fee “but we always make it affordable and accessible,” adds Amanda.

Looking to the Future

The VfL team have been energised by their success to date and have set some big goals for the future. “We encouraged the All Party Parliamentary Group of Vegetarianism and Veganism to launch an inquiry focusing on the experiences of vegetarians and vegans in the care sector,” says Amanda. “It became clear that veganism and vegetarianism are still too often misunderstood, sometimes regarded as a dietary quirk rather than part of someone’s core belief system.” As a result, VfL is planning to expand the scheme and is advocating for wider cultural change in care catering.