Good Question: Does Hospital Food Have To Taste Bad?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Hospital food is a punch line in a lot of movies and television comedies. You don't even need to explain to get a laugh, just bring out the fiberglass tray and make a sour face.
After more than 20 years in hospital food services, Monica Wilm knows the reputation. As a nutritionist and dietician and director of food services at Park Nicolet's Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, she thinks she has heard all the standard complaints.
The food is blah, boring and bland; the deadly three Bs, about as exciting as strained peas. Wilm agrees that, for ages, hospitals have been cooking with a recipe for discontent. However, what many people may not realize is that it was intentional, because they had to serve only the safest of foods to the sickest of patients.
"It had no salt, sugar or fat in it. We only produced one menu across the board," Wilm said.
In effect, people who were not on a restricted diet had to eat the same safe food that 40 percent of people in the hospital needed.
Today Methodist Hospital's kitchen looks more like a restaurant than a healthcare facility. Within the past few months Methodist launched a whole new menu system. Dietary techs take room service orders by phone and enter them in a computer. The system's software tracks each patient's nutritional restrictions, automatically counting carbohydrates, calories, sodium and fat.
The breakfast, lunch and dinner choices can be ordered from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Want a breakfast omelet for dinner or a grilled turkey sandwich at 11:00 a.m.? Just call in the order from your hospital bed.
Surveying the chef's creations on the serving line, it is hard to decide what looks better, the tempting tray full of fresh-made pizzas or the parmesan crusted cod. Wilm said 99 percent of the food is cooked from scratch.
"So you have salmon, mashed potatoes without gravy, cooked carrots, salad with balsamic and tea," says a dietary tech into her headset as she takes an order from the call center.
In the end, don't believe the stereotype, because a leap in technology has allowed hospitals to begin personalizing meals both to patients' tastes and medical requirements.
