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Who would have guessed it? Maggie Beer brings just as much effort and care to presenting a speech as she does to creating a perfect soufflé - because both are driven by an unquenchable passion.

Beer spoke yesterday at the National Press Club and her subject was, unsurprisingly, the need for better food in aged care homes. Her real message, however, was about how to satiate a far deeper craving: how to add meaning to life.

To the news first.

Her central ambition was to pass on the key message of her Foundation. "Food is not a pill to be swallowed or a care task to be ticked off, or a prescription to be filled,” Beer insisted. And yes, "although food is about nutrition, it's also about so much more than that, because food creates an appetite for life".

The reason for her speech also received its highlight. "We simply have not got capacity to meet demand and our current funding ends in September next year," Beer says. So yes, she needs more money to ensure this message continues echoing through the aged care canteens.

But what drove the speech was something far more fundamental: a passion for not simply using food as fuel, but as a centrepiece to create a wonderful life. As a way of adding highlights to your day and making meaning of the time we have together.

With over half of the 245,000 people in aged care living with dementia, Beer emphasised the critical role good food provides in creating familiar, safe spaces.

"One of the most evocative things is a sense of smell,” she said. This “links us to good memories. Living with dementia is so hard but I can tell you, those instincts are there.”

Good food plays just as powerful a role in creating meaning as it does in providing the physical energy to live.