Textured puree dishes to “rediscover the pleasure of eating”

The Outaouais Integrated Health and Social Services Center will offer textured puree dishes made using molds in all health facilities in the region starting in mid-July.

The CISSS de l’Outaouais has been working since 2017 to set up its new food expertise center at the Gatineau Hospital. It was inaugurated on Wednesday.

It is in this kitchen that these new mash dishes molded to take the shape of real foods will be prepared.

A project ambitious which represents a major breakthrough regarding the experience of users of the health system, says Dr. Marc Bilodeau, president and CEO of the CISSS of the Outaouais.

The goal, he says, is to make meals for those who cannot eat hard foods pleasant to consumein addition to containing all the necessary nutrients.

More pleasant for whom?

These meals are primarily intended for patients and residents with dysphagia or swallowing problems.

These conditions, which affect around 250 customers per day in Outaouais, often force those affected to eat soft food.

Added to this are around a hundred people who eat a mixed texture diet, bringing the total to nearly 800 meals of puree to be produced per day for the CISSS of the Outaouais.

It is often said that the pleasure of eating also comes through the eyes.

These people, in addition to being able to enjoy safe food, will now have access to food pleasant to look at and appetizingexplains Julie Whissell.

Other mold shapes will be added soon.

Get away from the puddle on the plate

When we think of hospital food, the image that Dr. Marc Bilodeau had in mind was famous purées in a ball which finally make a puddle on the plate.

He hopes to replace that image with that of real food with his new textured plates.

When the image is no longer there and we have cognitive losses, it is difficult to understand what we are eatinghe said.

This is why he believes that a food-shaped puree will allow patients to recognize what they are consuming.

Outaouais en position d’innovation

A similar project saw the light of day very recently in Beauceville, says Dr. Marc Bilodeau, but the new food expertise center of the CISSS of Outaouais places the region en position d’innovationaccording to him.

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An investment of $4.5 million was necessary to complete the project. THE CISSS Outaouais has acquired state-of-the-art equipment.

Cooling baths, automated pots, cooking basins, coolers and freezers guarantee a completely smooth puree, to prevent people from choking when consuming it, explains Dr. Bilodeau.

With information from Anne-Charlotte Carignan