QuestionI am a chef trained in classical French and Italian (and I have some background in American-Chinese cuisine) who recently began working in a hospital cafeteria. The cooks there are mostly morons who cannot cook anything unless it is printed on a recipe card. I am trying to change the terrible food reputation of this hospital, but I am running into a problem trying to introduce spices and herbs to the cooking process. Their point of view is that hospital patients aren't allowed to have too many spices in their food. Fine, I can even accept that (although I don't see how making a rub out of rubbed sage, garlic powder, onion powder, and some olive oil to use on a pork loin would bother anybody). But out in the main cafeteria part, the cooks use the same philosophy. That food is for visitors, doctors, nurses, and other staff. Is there some law of which I am unaware that says that food for the "normal" people in the cafeteria has to be bland and tasteless? I can understand the nutritionists not wanting to see a lot of salt used, but there are other herbs and spices that you would think could be used in place of salt without sacrificing taste. If I'm wrong, please tell me and I'll shut up at work and fume in silence while they put out food I wouldn't serve to my worst enemy.
AnswerWelcome to hospital foodservice! Your situation actually sounds like the kitchen of every hospital kitchen I have ever been in. The fight I always took up was for pureed food, which usually contains no flavoring at all so any diet can have the same foods.
The thing you need to remember about cooks in a hospital is they are not chefs. Often their only requirement is a high school diploma or equivalency. If they have experience in a kitchen, it just places their application ahead of others when looking for employment. Recipe cards are used not only so the cooks can make the recipes but also so the recipes are consistent no matter who is cooking (in theory). Most hospitals try to keep patient food plain so more diets can have food from the main recipe...and the less ingredients the less chance of food allergies/reactions. Food in the cafeteria is often made the same because (1) it's more cost effective for cooks to make the same food for both patients and the cafeteria and (2) many visitors to the hospital are on special diets themselves.
If you really want to change how food is prepared, get ready for a long fight. Try to get as many complaints from both the cafeteria and patients as possible...if nothing appears to be wrong, no one will want to fix it. Get the dietitians, kitchen supervisors, diet clerks, even nurses on your side. Contact food and nutrition services departments at other hospitals and see if they have had similar problems. The hospital I work at had so many complaints about the quality of our food we recently completely changed our menu. If possible, get sample recipes from the other hospitals you talk to so you can show increasing the taste of food will not increase cost. Your ultimate goal is to show patient satisfaction will increase, which will ultimately help the hospital's financial bottom line, if recipes are changed. Starting small will probably be best, testing just one new recipe that has such great results supervisors are motivated to try others. The process will probably take years, so be prepared if you really want to change policies, standard recipes, etc. at your hospital.
I wish you all the luck. Food is one of the few things people at the hospital have to look forward to so I also feel strongly hospital food should at least have some flavor...I just wish others felt the same as us!
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