Gourmet Bites: food that allows for independent living — and good eating

  • A Glades Retirement Home resident enjoys Gourmet Bites hors d’oeuvres-like servings, which eliminates the utensils that can be hard for some elderly to use. SUBMITTED PHOTO
    A Glades Retirement Home resident enjoys Gourmet Bites hors d’oeuvres-like servings, which eliminates the utensils that can be hard for some elderly to use. SUBMITTED PHOTO

The Glades Retirement Home in the ChampionsGate community is part of a dining program that allows their residents to eat independently.

Just in time for Thanksgiving, this revolutionary program helps its residents feel full for the holidays.

The facility showcased the innovative food prep system, aimed at helping those who face challenges eating their favorite Thanksgiving dishes.

Officials at the retirement community say that people with conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s run into problems that make the holiday a physical challenge. Things like using forks and knives can become very difficult for people with these neuromuscular and cognitive disabilities.The Glades Retirement Home has gone the extra mile to ensure that every resident can enjoy a Thanksgiving meal without any assistance.

Foods like sweet potatoes and turkey are being transformed into small one to two-serving hors d’oeuvres that can be eaten by hand through a program titled Gourmet Bites. The Glades Executive Director Heather Corton said she believes that Gourmet Bites not only helps feed the residents classic Thanksgiving foods, but also ensures that they get to do something for themselves, by themselves. “They are not eating pureed diets or just finger foods like fish sticks and things like that. They’re getting a wonderfully nutritious, well-balanced meal that they can eat on their own, and they are able to maintain their dignity.”

Corton not only works for The Glades, but also has a grandmother living there in the memory care unit, who served as one of the program’s first taste testers. Corton knew that Gourmet Bites was going to be a success from the moment her grandmother had that first bite.

“Every time she takes a bite, she closes her eyes and says, ‘Yum.’ That reaction, it’s beautiful,” she said.

According to company officials, Gourmet Bites intends to cover the upcoming Christmas season as well as open the program up to more communities to guarantee that all residents can share in holiday celebrations that will truly make their golden years shine.