Sponsored content submitted by Eskaton.

At Eskaton senior living communities, creating an immersive, inspiring dining experience for our residents is just one way we are fulfilling our vision of Transforming the Aging Experience for Northern California’s older adults. We believe the experience of eating food is just as important as the food’s nutrition, and that meals should be meaningful occasions for our residents and their guests. With a variety of dining options across our family of communities, including restaurant-style, café and cocktail lounge venues, having a meal at Eskaton is a very social event, and one of the primary reasons our residents enjoy living here.

“Food just brings people together, especially in a senior living community. For some residents, a lot of their social interaction happens at meal times, so we want to make everything vibrant, healthy and fun, served with great hospitality,” says Dan Urban, Regional Director of Operations for Morrison, one of Eskaton’s trusted culinary partners.

Experienced chefs prepare high-quality meals.

Some of the many benefits of moving into a senior living community is the freedom of not having to shop, cook, do dishes or worry about what types of food you should eat to best support your health and well-being. At Eskaton, we are dedicated to using wholesome ingredients and minimizing the use of processed foods, and our professional chefs and expert dietitians work together to deliver gourmet entrées made with fresh, locally-sourced ingredients, special treats made from scratch, and enough variety to satisfy even the most sophisticated taste buds. “I think the presentation is beautiful, and I like the unusual combination of flavors. I think it’s first-class dining,” one Eskaton resident told us. Another reports “I just can’t say enough about the food. I look forward to every meal.”

Eskaton also tries to incorporate the culinary journey into regular community programming, as research shows that interacting with food beyond the plate stimulates appetite and increases the residents’ connection to their meals. From planting vegetables in the community gardens, to food education, tastings and cooking demonstrations, our life enrichment teams collaborate with our culinary departments to highlight special ingredients and increase resident awareness about the meals served in their dining rooms.

Our signature program, Dining with Friends, has been implemented within all Eskaton Dawn of a New Day memory care neighborhoods and centers around the importance of Eskaton team members dining with residents living with cognitive change like dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Recent studies have demonstrated that the act of sharing a meal together creates a sense of belonging and stimulates conversation between participants, allowing them to connect in meaningful ways. This program was specifically designed to achieve these benefits for our residents by creating a supportive dining environment that inspires socialization, increases nutritional intake, and encourages resident identity and independence.

 You're always with friends when dining at Eskaton.

Beyond providing fresh, creative cuisine to support the nutritional needs of our residents, Eskaton continues to aim higher by offering incredible opportunities and events like cooking demonstrations and Q&As involving those well-known in the culinary world. Food Network celebrity chef Jet Tila recently paid a much-anticipated visit to our award-winning senior living community Eskaton Village Carmichael, where he began with a cooking demonstration before moving to the dining room to sign copies of his book and chat with residents and staff.

“This is what Eskaton is all about – innovating the aging process. Rather than just having your typical dining experience, you have a new chef showing you different tastes, different looks of the world, and I really think it speaks to what we do here at Eskaton,” said Brandon Meadows, Executive Chef at Eskaton Village Carmichael.

Almost too beautiful to eat!

In addition to exciting culinary events like Chef Tila’s visit, the Eskaton dining experience also includes the following features:

·      All-day dining from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. - you choose what and when you want to eat. Our chefs and dietitians ensure we offer a variety of nutritious and delicious cuisine to tempt the palate.

·      Children, grandchildren, and friends are always welcome to stop by to enjoy a meal and visit with their loved ones (COVID-19 visitation restrictions may be applied).

·      Resident food committees meet monthly to provide us with valuable feedback and suggestions on what residents like and don’t like, and to discuss new items they’d like to see included on the menu.

·      Meals are prepared with high-quality produce and proteins; ingredients are locally-sourced as much as possible, and there’s a lot of variety and seasonal items featured throughout the year.

Dine with friends.

Eskaton has been serving Northern California’s older adults and their families since 1968. As a nonprofit senior living and services provider, our mission is to enhance the lives of older adults through innovative health, housing and social services. With five decades of experience and a national reputation for innovation, Eskaton is Transforming the Aging Experience. For more information, please call 916-297-6918 or visit eskaton.org.