When people imagine staying in the hospital, they probably don’t think about how bland and institutionalized their meals will be. But that’s changing: hospitals are taking note of the fact that the food they serve to patients, staff and visitors can make a difference in health outcomes. And they’re working to raise the bar for their menus.
Until recently, most hospital food was designed to meet strict nutritional standards while providing sufficient calories and protein, which are crucial for patient recovery. But now, they’re also being pushed to serve delicious food that will keep patients happier and healthier, which can lead to lower readmission rates and better reimbursements.
And the best part about this movement is that many chefs are coming out of their shells to challenge the status quo. The same competitive pressures that push restaurant chefs to excel are being applied to hospital food, and it’s paying off.
For example, Valley Hospital in New Jersey and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick placed first and second respectively in a national culinary competition, where teams of cooks clad in white chef jackets competed against each other to transform a cornucopia of foods into four-course meals, all while meeting restrictions for salt and calories.
They’re also implementing other healthy measures, like removing high-fat desserts from their cafeterias and restaurants, offering proportionally priced half-size sandwiches, eliminating sugary drinks, serving fresh fruit on the salad bar and putting healthier snacks in vending machines. Many are even partnering with local farmers and community gardens to bring more nutritious and tasty ingredients into their kitchens.
In some cases, doctors are even educating their patients to become better eaters once they’re discharged from the hospital. “No hospital should leave a patient without giving them the tools they need to be successful, so they don’t get readmitted,” says one director of food and nutrition services at Plainview and Syosset hospitals on Long Island, NY. He teaches patients to identify healthy carb servings and to know the difference between high-fructose corn syrup and sugar.
Hospitals also work with food manufacturers to ensure that they’re getting quality ingredients, but that doesn’t always happen. A recent investigation by The Guardian found that most hospital kitchens aren’t actually cooking much of anything at all, just reheating and undoing packaged meals, the same way you’d find in a school cafeteria. Instead, some hospital directors are trying to change that by forming partnerships with local producers and encouraging chefs to start making their own dishes from scratch.
Still, the majority of hospital cuisine isn’t great, with one Reddit user showing a plate of eggs, pasta and bread for dinner and another posting a picture of their meal on r/hospitalfood to show how simple and basic it can be. But that’s slowly changing, and more patients are reporting that their meals are tastier than they expected. Just be sure to ask your doctor before you head to the cafeteria to make sure it’s safe for you to eat there.