Editor's note. Mr. Vierke is responding to the BayToday story Retirement home food so bad people ordering in, residents say.
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I am European and one of the greatest problems in this country is that a cook as such, is not really recognized as a trade like a carpenter or an electrician like it is in Europe.
Anybody can say I am a cook, but in reality, they cannot even heat a pot of water properly.
If by poor accident good cooks lose their way up here, they do not stay long because the broad population only wants things that are based on hamburgers or hot-dogs. So the result is that these people very quickly leave for the big international hotels in the big city where their knowledge and ability are appreciated and they are properly paid.
It is beyond me why a home that charges people $5,500 per month is unable to pay good cooks properly. Yes, it is pure greed.
Talking about myself I spend enough time in the North Bay hospital, I love our hospital here, it is the best. However, when it comes to food it is a disaster!
I was in almost 3 weeks and was not able to touch anything except my milk and the yellow stuff. Since childhood, I have had an aversion to reheated food. The smell alone turns my stomach. The dietary food that I needed I could only swallow with great willpower. In the end it was my beloved wife that brought food in for me that I could eat.
If I, by accident, end up in one of those homes I will be dead within 4 weeks.
Sincerely,
Peter Vierke
