Community members in Camden were concerned that the cooks providing meals in residential care homes were untrained and the food preferences of the residents were unknown to the staff.

They found a training course in the Camden area and persuaded the authority to release the cooks and assistant cooks for training in nutrition for older people and cooking skills.

They combined this with visits to the residential care homes, where they introduced the residents to smoothies, whose popularity resulted in the homes buying smoothie makers.

They also spoke to the residents to find out their food preferences and to make sure cooking these was part of the training their cooks were given. The residents also became involved with planning menus in the homes.