To begin the discussion straight away; What is it that Older People like to eat and to what extent should we try to control their diet or nutrition?
In my personal opinion, let the youngsters eat what they want to. The reason being, life post 85 is too finite to sit down with a diet chart and debate about carbohydrates and proteins. If they have survived this long, they will last a few more years too.
As a caregiver or at least I try to believe in that persona, food is one of the most important activity (activities) in the day: yes one can have a mix of food of the land, but then a burger, pizza or chole bhature never harmed a hungry oldy chap.
In a country like India, our food habits are so diverse that I don't think any one single formula will work. Asking Bengalis to not eat fish or eggs is like asking a Punjabi to not have Daal or asking a South Indian to not have curd rice.
Menu appeal, menu planning, food presentation, aroma etc are extremely important when it comes to Elderly people and that is something which India can probably learn from the developed countries.
Food is not just food, it is the lifeline for the day. A real example which I can state is, when my old man himself went to the chopping table for his mouth cancer a few years ago, his concern was what's there for dinner. Luckily Armed Forces is quite advanced in such things, the dinner used to be soup, cutlets, garlic bread, continental, Indian etc.
Eldercare sector in India is still developing, there are a lot of areas which needs to be studied and homegrown solutions needs to be found. What works in US or UK will not work in India. Not everything has to be expensive. No one wants to eat caviar, avocado or some fancy non-existent rare food everyday. The simple daal and chawal can be prepared and presented in a way that Seniors find it interesting rather than just basic survival.
As a nation we are talking about big numbers; the billion dollar industry, but then, are we really studying the subject and working towards India specific solutions? Being a part of a fancy retirement community with a chef curated menu does not mean we have understood the subject, there is much more which needs to be studied and worked upon.
Seniors living in Charitable Old Age Homes have almost the same diet as Seniors buying a million dollars plus retirement housing project, the question is, can we offer them the same presentation, aroma, appeal especially when the ingredients are the same.
To conclude, food habits in India are like a heritage journey tour, every 500 kms the habits and style of cooking changes, so let's not think that all senior citizens should be eating boiled vegetables and rice. Let them eat what they want to and let them relish it.
Pankaj Mehrotra
Founder - Elderly Care India
