At an Oxfordshire hospice, chef Spencer Richards ensures that patients nearing the end of their lives are offered meals prepared with affection.
For this man, cooking for terminally sick people is more than a job; it is a calling.
Chef Richards told the Mirror that there is no higher luxury than making the patients’ final days a little more bearable with his comforting food.
“My opinion is that there is no greater privilege as a chef than serving someone’s last meal. Recently, a 21-year-old patient failed to connect with anything on the normal menu. He was young and didn’t like the traditional alternatives, so we chatted, and he preferred street cuisine, so we made it happen,” he told the outlet.
He recalls baking a birthday cake for a 93-year-old woman who had lived her entire life in a conventional home where birthdays were uncommon.
“When we surprised her with one, she burst into tears. “She was absolutely over the moon.”
Actually, a birthday cake is the most popular request made by patients at Sobell House Hospice as their lives come to an end.
“They’re small things, but especially for people who’ve been isolated or are feeling lonely, they mean a lot,” says Richards, the chef.
Furthermore, he added that adjusting the dishes he prepares is critical because the majority of patients in palliative care lose their capacity to swallow. Their taste buds also vary in response to the medications and treatments they undergo.
One thing this hospice chef has noticed, however, is that patients with cancer “get a sweet tooth.” Also, most of the patients are sensitive to salt.
“Food is a powerfully emotive medium – it can summon childhood memories and create new lasting ones. That’s what we do here.”
