Sowing the seeds

Promoting healthy eating for all

Manager Chris Oxley (left) and the TouchBase
Café catering team

TouchBase, in Glasgow’s Kinning Park, is an exciting and innovative resource centre for disabled children, young people and adults. Run by the charity Sense Scotland, the facility offers support throughout the day as well as visual arts, drama and music facilities and sessions, and a range of fully accessible meeting rooms.

The TouchBase café, which has held the healthyliving award since not long after its opening in 2008, resides in a bright and airy courtyard within the centre. As well as catering for the people who use the day resources and their families, it’s also open to the local community and attracts a number of regular customers from the surrounding offices.

Catering Manager Chris Oxley has been running the café for the past two and a half years. With 25 years experience in the restaurant business, he is now delighted to have the opportunity of making a difference by working for Sense Scotland.

Chris told us about some of the changes he has introduced since taking over at the café. He explained: “We have a varied menu with a range of daily specials. Most of our menu is made up of fresh food, and very little is processed or bought-in.

“We try and run a healthy promotion day every week. For example, we did a fish promotion recently where our trainee chef gave an introduction to healthier methods of cooking; showing how to poach rather than fry the fish.

“We’ll also do fruit promotions where we buy in exotic fruits such as watermelon and lychees, to encourage the people we support and customers to try different fruits.

“In August we plan to have a focus on healthy cooking, when we’ll give cookery demonstrations and invite local suppliers along. We’ve had great support from local companies in the past, and they’ve provided products such as smoothies and healthier snack bars.”

Chris and his team are doing a fantastic job at the TouchBase Café, and with so many imaginative promotions going on they are an inspiration to caterers everywhere!

Sense Scotland works with children, young people and adults who have communication support needs because of deafblindness, sensory impairment, learning and physical disabilities. To find out more about the charity phone 0141 429 0294 or visit www.sensescotland.org.uk

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issue twenty-three:
August 2012
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The healthyliving awardNHS Health Scotland - Scotland's health improvement agencyHealthier Scotland - Scottish GovernmentHealthier Scotland - Scottish Government