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Hospital Food

liuzhou

By liuzhou
in Food Traditions & Culture

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

Breakfast:  cinnamon French toast and sausage.  Never got to eat it.  Reordered as a late lunch.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted

This from today's WaPo. https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/02/27/hospital-food-fine-dining-northwell/

 

The gist is that Lenox Hill Hosp is now serving restaurant-ish food in the hospital.  Sounds great.

 

I do wonder about the assertion that it is revenue neutral and that food costs aren't higher than before.  Either they were way overcharged for the previous crap food or they have a new contract with Misfits 😉

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ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted

That was a great article.  It would be nice if other hospitals, including those in Canada, took note.

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MetsFan5

MetsFan5

Posted
Posted
On 2/28/2023 at 1:16 PM, Kim Shook said:

This cannot be said enough.  Jessica went to a dietician/nutritionist recently.  She was asked to prepare a list of likes/dislikes.  The woman never even so much as glanced at it and rattled off the “eat lots of fruits and vegetables” and “exercise more”.  Good, if elementary, advice, but she was supposed to tailor her advice to Jessica. 

 

I think in the US the quality of the food at hospitals probably depends on the surrounding area or the hospital system.  At the two large groups that operate in the Richmond VA area (Bon Secours and HCA), the food is not great, but it’s perfectly fine.  You order your meals and snacks from something similar to this every day.  One of the locations has a weekly fried chicken day and it is so good that people who live in the neighborhood place orders for pick up (this particular campus specializes in cardiac rehab 🤪 – I know, what can I say?  It’s the south.). 

 

@Anna N and @Maison Rustique – I’m so sorry that y’all have been ill and so glad you are home now. 


 

  That has to be super frustrating! However Jessica is a great cook, no? She knows what is healthy and what isn’t. Zero offense meant because it is extremely frustrating to be dismissed. 
 

  My experience in the hospital, food-wise was great. I’d pick out my daily menu the night prior and if I didn’t like the meals they scheduled I could always order an omelet or grilled cheese or a burger or a pizza or Caesar salad. I also drank a ton of water, something I continue to do to this day. 
 

 

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:


 

  That has to be super frustrating! However Jessica is a great cook, no? She knows what is healthy and what isn’t. Zero offense meant because it is extremely frustrating to be dismissed. 
 

  My experience in the hospital, food-wise was great. I’d pick out my daily menu the night prior and if I didn’t like the meals they scheduled I could always order an omelet or grilled cheese or a burger or a pizza or Caesar salad. I also drank a ton of water, something I continue to do to this day. 
 

 

 

Before I left the hospital the other day, they had a nutritionist come speak to me.  A most unrewarding conversation.  Tests show I am anemic, low vitamins (no idea which ones), and needing potassium.  No specific food advice whatsoever.  I have little appetite and no energy to cook.  I'm not sure what outcome they expect.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

Posted
Posted

Glad you are home, @JoNorvelleWalker !  Assuming your own doctor has access to the blood tests, perhaps he or she can give you ideas about what foods and/or supplements would be useful. Of course bananas for potassium. I recently learned that a good person to discuss these things with is an endocrinologist. Mine had ideas that my GP never offered, some of which were critical.

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, JeanneCake said:

Are you home now? (hopefully!)

 

I am home thanks.  I miss the hospital food.  I do not miss eating from a tray table.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
On 3/5/2023 at 7:45 PM, gfweb said:

Educated guess...anemia + "low vitamins"  probably means low B12.

 

Good guess.  "Low vitamins" means low B12.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

  • 1 month later...
haresfur

haresfur

Posted
Posted

My local private hospital has actually stepped up their food game. Order what you want when you want (subject to dietary restrictions) 6:30 AM to 8:00 PM. Had an early tea since they had been starving me all day so had an evening snack. At the last minute added a piece of carrot cake that was seriously good and nice looking to boot with whip cream, pumpkin seeds, and edible flowers on top.

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It's almost never bad to feed someone.

  • 2 weeks later...
MaryIsobel

MaryIsobel

Posted
Posted

A less than graceful move on my part caused me to spend 7 days in the hospital. Got home this past Thursday. I was truly gob-smacked by how really awful the food was. The first three days I was in, I was waiting for surgery so was fasting every day until about 9 pm when I would be advised "sorry, no surgery today, but it should be tomorrow." At that point I would be allowed to eat and drink until midnight. Problem was by that time, my visitors had gone home, the meal trays had been delivered and the nurses would resort to scrounging up food which usually consisted of either arrowroot or digestive biscuits, sometimes cheese portions and unsalted saltines. Fortunately I didn't have much appetite, as I had been laying pretty much flat on my back, bed bound (fractured hip) but I have never enjoyed a digestive biscuit as much as I did on those evenings.

  When I finally had surgery, I eagerly anticipated my breakfast tray the next morning. I had no idea it was possible to make toast badly. Served in a wax paper envelope to trap all the condensation, dripping with margarine and barely warm, it was to me, practically inedible. This was accompanied by grape jelly and a scoop of scrambled eggs which held it's shape perfectly. No salt or pepper to be seen. Another day was similar breakfast but a warm hard boiled egg with chalky yolk. Pepper was provided, no salt. 

I then discovered that I was on a renal failure diet. I have no kidney issues but apparently being dehydrated can cause a spike in renal numbers. I was dehydrated because I had been fasting for 3 days! Got that sorted and thought the meals would improve. Nope. First non RF meal was a scoop of plain rice, dried out and crunchy on the bottom (and not in a good way) a huge portion of plain corn and six 1" dia meatballs that were probably 50% cereal in a sauce that seemed to be corn syrup with smoked paprika. I then decided that I would rely on my friends and family to bring me food. Unfortunately there was no way to not get served all 3 meals. They all went back untouched but for the orange juice at breakfast and the fresh fruit on the two days it was offered. Such a terrible waste. I didn't take many pictures, but here is one breakfast and the meatball dinner. Slightly off topic - but I have nothing but good things to sa about every single staff member from cleaners to doctors, that I encountered.

hosp 1 - 1.jpeg

hosp 2 - 1 (1).jpeg

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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted

I'm glad you are back home @MaryIsobel!  What a sorry pair of meals and how awful to have you fasting all day for 3 days.  Ugh.  How can they expect people to maintain nutrition for proper healing under such conditions.  

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

I'm glad you are back home @MaryIsobel!  What a sorry pair of meals and how awful to have you fasting all day for 3 days.  Ugh.  How can they expect people to maintain nutrition for proper healing under such conditions.  

From my own experience I came to the conclusion that the concept of good nutrition, indeed any nutrition, being necessary to recuperation has gone by the wayside in so many institutions. 

Edited by Anna N
Verb choice changed. (log)
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Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

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MaryIsobel

MaryIsobel

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, Anna N said:

From my own experience I came to the conclusion that the concept of good nutrition, indeed any nutrition, is necessary to recuperation has gone by the wayside in so many institutions. 

Apparently. I was in a quad room and 3 of the 4 of us relied on outside food or went without.

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MaryIsobel

MaryIsobel

Posted
Posted

Something has been bothering me. Perhaps I was wrong to whine about hospital food. Even though I did use the word inedible, I suppose it really wasn't, it just wasn't up to my standards. When there are so many people who don't know where their next meal will come from, I guess I was just being persnickety. As I mentioned, there were 4 people in our room and one polished off her meals each time. Maybe that's the way she cooks at home. Given that my hospital stay, surgery and the ensuing physio did not and will not cost me a cent, I am feeling guilty about ridiculing the meals. However, I now have a great idea for a small gift for anyone facing a hospital stay (given they don't have any dietary restrictions.) A miniature pepper grinder, some salt, individual packets of butter, some hot sauce, hp sauce, soy sauce, ketchup...

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ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, MaryIsobel said:

Something has been bothering me. Perhaps I was wrong to whine about hospital food. Even though I did use the word inedible, I suppose it really wasn't, it just wasn't up to my standards. When there are so many people who don't know where their next meal will come from, I guess I was just being persnickety. As I mentioned, there were 4 people in our room and one polished off her meals each time. Maybe that's the way she cooks at home. Given that my hospital stay, surgery and the ensuing physio did not and will not cost me a cent, I am feeling guilty about ridiculing the meals. However, I now have a great idea for a small gift for anyone facing a hospital stay (given they don't have any dietary restrictions.) A miniature pepper grinder, some salt, individual packets of butter, some hot sauce, hp sauce, soy sauce, ketchup...

 

The hospital food in Ontario varies in quality from hospital to hospital.  When I was a guest of The Heart Institute the food was edible even not bad sometimes as far as taste went, but there were times when I wondered how some of the stuff they served could be healthy for a heart patient.  I don't think you were being persnickety at all.  Glad you are healing.

Edited by ElsieD (log)
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Kim Shook

Kim Shook

Posted
Posted

@MaryIsobel - I don't think you are being persnickety, either.  Noting the obvious deficiencies in one thing doesn't make you any less grateful for the people and care you received in everything but nutrition.  

 

I find that, once again, our clickable emoji comments are insufficient to your post. I could use the "sad" one for the fact that you had an injury and were subjected to a hospital stay.  Or I could have chosen a "like" for the fact that you are home and on the mend.  What I really wanted was an "angry" one -to react to the awful waste of food and the lack of care and the willful ignorance of the importance of good food to healing and both mental and physical health.  

 

I am truly sorry for your troubles and hope you will mend quickly and completely!

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Kim

Kim's Cookbook

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Margaret Pilgrim

Margaret Pilgrim

Posted
Posted
On 5/7/2023 at 2:50 PM, MaryIsobel said:

.... I now have a great idea for a small gift for anyone facing a hospital stay (given they don't have any dietary restrictions.) A miniature pepper grinder, some salt, individual packets of butter, some hot sauce, hp sauce, soy sauce, ketchup...

Sounds also like a great bon voyage present for anyone about to take a very long economy class flight.  

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eGullet member #80.

SLB

SLB

Posted
Posted
On 5/7/2023 at 5:50 PM, MaryIsobel said:

However, I now have a great idea for a small gift for anyone facing a hospital stay (given they don't have any dietary restrictions.) A miniature pepper grinder, some salt, individual packets of butter, some hot sauce, hp sauce, soy sauce, ketchup...

Noted, well.

 

And -- seconding the perfectly-put words of @Kim Shook.  We're witcha, all around.    

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