Hospital Food
Food Chain Radio Show #1194
Michael Olson, Author & Urban Farming Agriculturalist
Hospital Food
Guest: Steven Ward, Executive Chef Dignity Health Dominican Hospital
How does cook for guests who would rather be somewhere else?
Michael Olson Food Chain Radio – Feeding the Hospital – How does one cook for guests who would rather not be there?
A hospital food story from your host…
I have a craving for rhubarb pie! I blame my mother, who made the absolute best rhubarb pies, but has long since passed.
It is nearly impossible to find rhubarb pie like she made anywhere, but I am always hungry for one. When restaurant servers bring the desert menus I always ask, “Do you have rhubarb pie?” And they always answer with a, “Sorry, how about some cheesecake?”
But, I do not hunger for cheesecake, and so usually pass on desert.
Recently I found myself in the hospital for an overnight stay. When I checked in, the lady behind the desk asked if I had any special need the hospital could attend to for me. I replied, “Well, yes! I’d like some rhubarb pie!”
“Sorry,” she said, “How about some cheesecake?”
The nurses who tended me also asked what they could do to make me feel better, to which I answered, “Rhubarb pie!” One of them wrote on my status board, “Special Needs: Rhubarb pie!” I soon became the ward’s “Rhubarb pie guy.”
The morning after, who should show up in my room but the hospital’s executive chef. After introducing himself, he asked, “What is it that you want?”
So, when I pointed out the special request on the status board, he said, “Would you like that rhubarb pie for lunch with salmon, and some fresh green beans and coffee?”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the meal that sent me home from the hospital fat and sassy.
I often think of that meal, and the setting in which it was served, and wonder…
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In the end we are all the time missing our grandparents food!