The Sausage Nonnas (image from The Cassandra Report)
A feature on The Cassandra Report recently, highlighted how entrepreneurs are tapping into older peoples cooking skills and their desire to be part of a their community by setting up online schemes and apps which utilise their years of culinary experience and put them in touch with others.
French entrepreneur Alizé Delbes reconized the this and set up Lou Papé a service which enables users to rent an older person to cook a meal in your own home. The cooks are 58 or over (is 58 old?) are selected for their culinary skills and ability to connect with people on a personal level. As well as providing delicious food, Delbes hopes to encourage multi generational relationships.
Vodophone set “Sunday Grannies” in an attempt to bring the 4 million older people in Romania into the community. They created a pop-up lunch campaign, where two food loving grandmothers cooked for students who wanted home-cooked meals. The initiative was so successful that the two women ended up with their own cooking show and selling their signature lemon pie in major grocery stores. Vodaphone also created a Facebook app to enable any senior citizen in the country to invite people to their kitchen for lunch.
In Chicago, Uber partnered with local sausage company Johnsonville on a daylong campaign called The Sausage Nonnas. An app allowed users to summon three Italian grandmothers to cook a free meal in diners’ homes. Throughout the day, they delivered over 100 meals in a miniature motorized home, cooking rigatoni, lasagna, and spaghetti and meatballs to feed up to six people at each location. Users could also follow their journey on Snapchat and Periscope.
Never mind Dish Next Door maybe we should set up Granny Next Door?
Definitely! Cooking is one area where experience is irreplaceable.
Good older home cooks are treasures, walking encyclopaedic cook books, like antique furniture they need to be respected and looked after. So, a brilliant idea.
They hold a mine of tips and tricks that no cookbook ever reveals.
They’ve done their 10,000 hours and some.
My sister, a professional cook and I have just cured our first hams (for Christmas last).
What a palaver! but we learnt so much. HFW’s book was the best but….nothing can replace the actual in time process; and we carry our discoveries and learning through to next year and beyond.