At Little Bramingham Farm, our Luton-based residential care home, Friends of the Elderly, the residents have had an amazing time celebrating this year’s Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year, enjoying a delicious, homemade Chinese feast. “We wanted to give the residents a real taste of China and to see in the Chinese New Year in style,” said Emma Lawrance, the Registered Manager at Little Bramingham Farm. “The residents adore Chinese food, so an authentic Chinese Feast, was the perfect idea.”
“I like to be able to tell the residents a bit of history or an interesting story when a special day or date comes around,” continued Karen Charity, the care home’s Activities Coordinator. “After looking into the history of Chinese New Year, I was delighted to be able to share some interesting facts with them. For example, The Chinese New Year is an annual celebration that marks the change in zodiac signs. It’s a 15-day festival which is celebrated in China and by Chinese communities all over the world and food is an extremely important part of the celebrations.”
“Food is a key part of the Lunar New Year, where many dishes come to symbolise luck, prosperity and unity for the year to come,” added Emma. “To keep with tradition and to honour the Chinese New Year, our Chef, Jim Wright, created a special Chinese inspired menu, including dishes to respect Chinese customs and symbology. “To start, the residents enjoyed Prawn Crackers, Prawn Toast – which was so delicious and Vegetable Spring Rolls, which represent and are symbols of prosperity as they resemble bars of gold.”
“The main course consisted of Chicken with Cashew Nuts, Pork Chow Mein and Egg Fried Rice and, for dessert, Jim served a mouth-watering Lychee Cheesecake. Lychees are considered an important, positive fruit in Chinese New Year celebrations as the name ‘Lizhi’ sounds like ‘Favourable Prospects’ or ‘Rising Status’ and are often called the ‘Fruit of Love” or ‘Fruit of Romance’ representing strong family ties, closeness, and emotional warmth,” continued Karen.
“The residents had a wonderful time celebrating this year’s Chinese New Year, which welcomed in The Year of the Horse symbolising intense energy, freedom, speed, ambition and breakthrough. They are all now very keen to try different Chinese dishes, so Chef Jim is looking into more tasty Chinese meals to create for them to enjoy,” concluded Emma.
Find out more about Little Bramingham Farm care home by calling 01582 582 433 or emailing [email protected].