Sant Julià de Lòria Relaunches Senior Dining with Traditional Meals
The Cullera de la Llar service reopens offering healthy, home-cooked meals for over-60s at €7.80 per meal, with bookings required amid capacity.
Key Points
- Reopened today with 48 daily spots; €7.80/meal or €35/5-day package, bookings 1 day ahead.
- Inaugural menu: chickpeas-spinach starter, chicken cutlets, fruit/yoghurt/flan dessert.
- Delayed by renovations, new dietician/cook for dietary needs like allergies and coeliac.
- Price up from €6.90 drew criticism over senior affordability; focuses on traditional spoon dishes.
**Sant Julià de Lòria relaunches senior dining service with traditional home-cooked meals**
The Cullera de la Llar dining service in Sant Julià de Lòria reopened today, offering healthy, traditional meals to people over 60. The inaugural menu featured chickpeas with spinach as a starter, followed by oven-baked chicken cutlets with carrot, apple and cinnamon. Diners could choose fruit, yoghurt or flan for dessert. A standard meal costs €7.80, or €35 for a five-day package from Monday to Friday that includes water, bread, coffee or tea. The service is closed at weekends and on public holidays.
Places are limited to 48 people per day, so bookings must be made at least one day in advance, according to Núria Blanco, head of services at the Llar de Lòria. Originally slated to reopen in October, the launch was delayed by renovation works, kitchen upgrades and the recruitment of a dietician and cook to create menus suited to various needs, including coeliac disease, allergies and intolerances.
Sant Julià de Lòria's social councillor, Eva Ramos Casadevall, said the service previously relied on external catering until June 2023 but aimed to revive the "essence of traditional spoon dishes" that appeal to seniors. Menus prioritise comforting, familiar fare over trendy options like hummus or ceviche. Upcoming dishes include beef stew with potatoes on Thursday and tuna marmitako with peppers and potatoes on Wednesday, 11th. Spinach will reappear on 17th, after Carnival Monday; the vegetable provides vitamin K, magnesium, folate and antioxidants that support muscle health, cardiovascular protection and blood pressure control—benefits especially valuable for older adults.
Residents from other parishes can also participate at the same rate. The price rise from €6.90—set during the pandemic recovery phase from June 2021—drew criticism. Unió Laurediana councillor Mireia Codina opposed it at last December's Consell de Comú meeting, warning it could strain seniors' finances and exclude some users. The governing majority argued the increase would substantially improve menu quality.
User numbers had declined previously due to lacklustre catering, but trial tastings have generated positive feedback ahead of the full relaunch.
Original Sources
This article was aggregated from the following Catalan-language sources: