Whatever control you have over your diet at home, can healthy choices be made at work in the staff canteen?
Campbell Catering Limited supplies services to a range of companies and institutions, including Guinness Brewery on James Street in Dublin. General Catering Manager of Campbell Catering Barry O'Sullivan explains that one of the principles on which the company is founded is,
To provide fresh food all the time.
Campbell Catering's policy on healthy cooking stresses a more nutritious meal,
Low fat, low salt and high fibre.
Campbell Catering clients express a growing interest in healthy eating. Feedback on their healthy option is positive.
In the Guinness Staff Restaurant, the emphasis is on freshly prepared food seasoned with black pepper and fresh herbs using very little salt.
Cooking methods such as baking and boiling are used in preference to frying.
Head Chef at the Guinness Staff Restaurant Myles Condra runs through the menu which reflects new ideas. He singles out the fish option as the healthiest. Soups are freshly prepared, pasta and rice offered instead of chips. Low cholesterol choices are always available.
We find it worthwhile, the customers appreciate it and it's healthier.
In RTÉ every afternoon hundreds of people dine in the staff canteen operated by National Catering. Catering Manager Beth Brazil notices some people will never pick the healthy option on offer.
We refer to those in the trade as the boiled bacon and cabbage individuals
These are people who are never going to change their diet and have no interest in nutrition. While some people will always eat fried food, the choice available in the RTÉ canteen has widened. Vegetarian food is often on the menu and salads are on offer every day.
RTÉ reporter Charlie Bird ignores the choice provided by the menu. Every day he opts for two brown rolls, soup and cheese. Broadcaster Gerry Ryan does not know if his meal of soup and a sandwich is healthy, but hopes it is.
During a busy day of filming, the cast and crew members of 'Glenroe' and 'Fair City' do not always go for the healthy choice on the menu. 'Glenroe' actor Isobel Mahon opts for a cheese roll and a takeaway cup of tea because,
My choice today is a matter of speed.
The healthy option has yet to hit McDaid's pub in 'Glenroe'. Actor Maureen Toal who plays landlady Teasy McDaid reports,
I'm afraid at the moment there's only sandwiches and soup.
This episode of 'Check Up' was broadcast on 12 March 1991.The reporter is Ciana Campbell.
'Check Up' was a weekly health show presented by Ciana Campbell and Siobhan Cleary. It examined how people cope with various health issues "from medics to migraine, hi-tech to low-fat, heart attacks to heartburn". (RTE Guide, Sept 30, 1988, p.25). 'Check Up' continued for 9 series between 1988 and April 1996.
