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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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Jell-No! Hospital Chow Goes Upscale

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(Newser) – If an industry group's cooking competition is any indication, the Wall Street Journal reports, hospital food ain’t what it used to be. This year's winner of the National Society for Healthcare Foodservice Management's gold medal produced a “Machaca Flat Iron Steak” that met with his hospital nutritionist’s approval and cost less than $5 to make. “Chefs in health care are the most misunderstood people,” a former champ says.

“People think we slop gruel on trays,” the former winner continues. But no: “It can be creative. It can dazzle,” says a society official. “We have chefs that can compete with the best of them.” At the winner's Colorado workplace, people with no business at the hospital come in off the street just for the cafeteria. “People go because the quality of the food is top-shelf,” says one satisfied customer.

The old version of hospital food.
The old version of hospital food.   (Getty Images)
Hospital cook Linda Owens removes a piece of roast beef from a pan during the afternoon preparation patients' dinner meals at Louisiana State University Medical Center Hospital.
Hospital cook Linda Owens removes a piece of roast beef from a pan during the afternoon preparation patients' dinner meals at Louisiana State University Medical Center Hospital.   (Getty Images)
Hospital food.
Hospital food.   (©jayneandd)
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What we do at the hospital has a much bigger purpose than having the fanciest restaurant on the block. No offense to celebrity chefs, but they're a dime a dozen these days. - Eric Eisenberg, executive chef, Swedish Medical Center in Seattle

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4 comments
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Jayster999
Sep 3, 09 2:27 PM CDT
...along with the bills... Reply
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Realist
Sep 3, 09 3:38 PM CDT
With the cost of care, the food damn well BETTER be decent!
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+2
Jes
Sep 3, 09 11:16 PM CDT
My first job was working after school in a nutrition dept at a hospital and I can vouch that they can and do make some great food... If you aren't on a restricted diet, that is. Go down to any Post-Par and look at the trays and you might get jealous. Wander up to the ICU and see people on a Thickened Liquid Diet, a Renal Diet, Pureed Diet, etc and you'll wanna barf in your mouth. Reply
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ruserious
Sep 4, 09 9:09 AM CDT
Food SHOULD be improving at hospitals. My boyfriend had to stay in one for three days at the beginning of the summer, and there was almost nothing he could eat. Everything was full of high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oil. I had to leave the hospital to buy some whole wheat bread and natural peanut butter because the only vegetarian options were so disgusting he puked them. A hospital is supposed to be a place where you get better, not a place where you pick up a new coronary obstruction. I hope I never have to be in the hospital, because I'll surely starve on their enriched white grains and trans fats. I hope it's not this bad all over the country. Reply
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