Our client, Praise, came to STEPS Rehabilitation in April 2022, after she sustained a life-changing spinal cord injury when she was involved in a car accident in September 2021 when she was 18 years old.
Having settled into life at STEPS, Praise was focussing on her rehabilitation programme and enjoying regular visits from her parents and younger brother. As well as supporting Praise throughout her rehabilitation journey, her parents, originally from the Yorùbá Tribe in Nigeria, would also bring her traditional Nigerian dishes to enjoy.
Praise doesn’t enjoy traditional English meals, so when her parents went away on holiday recently, she struggled to choose from the menus that were on offer from the kitchen.
A vital part of a clients stay at STEPS, is ensuring they have a healthy, balanced diet to support the rehabilitation process. Our carefully designed menus provide energy, vitamins and nutrients that are needed for strength, function and wellbeing.
Every team member at STEPS is dedicated to helping our clients reach their full potential, so with Praise unable to store large quantities of homemade meals in the fridges at STEPS whilst her parents were on holiday, the kitchen team were determined to find a solution to support Praise by preparing healthy meals that she would enjoy.
Head Chef, Alex Stephenson, met with Praise to discuss her likes and dislikes, and equipped with the names of some of Praises’ favourite dishes, Alex went away to research Nigerian Yorùbá recipes and cooking techniques. He also contacted our regular fresh food supplier to see how he could help.
Praise was amazed, when the very next day, Alex prepared, ‘Efo Riro’, a rich vegetable soup that is one of her favourite meals. Since his meeting with Praise and following the success of his first ever Nigerian dish, he has been preparing other meals, including ‘Jollof Rice’ with the help of our supplier who was able to source ingredients from world supermarket, Ozmen.
Praise says, “Alex making traditional Nigerian meals has made this experience even better. Before, I was eating lots of takeaways which isn’t a healthy option. Having freshly prepared meals is helping me with everything, including my health and taking some of the pressure off Mum.”