Food

Not bad ... Could be worse

Hospital food.  A subject ripe for complaint and criticism.

But you know, I've noticed that many of those who complain probably enjoy a diet more likely to put them into a cardiac unit than to keep them out.  Some folks just eat too much food and there's just too much fat on their bodies.  That's hard on their cardiovascular system.  Add too little exercise and the problem is compounded.  As well, many people consume foods that are too high in fat and, especially, cholesterol. We know that such a diet contributes to heart disease.  Finally, most people take in too much salt.  It's hard to avoid when a diet comes primarily from processed foods or from restaurants.  So, if you are used to eating a lot of pizza, hamburgers and french fries then, yes, I expect that you will complain about hospital food.  But the hospital food is certainly better for you.

That being said, though, feeding thousands of people in hospitals around the city of Calgary does definitely present challenges.  The food has to be safe, transportable, re-heatable, nutritious, healthy, and tasty.  That's a tall order and not an easy task to achieve with an industrial scale system.

Nevertheless, I found the food was not too bad.  The bread and buns were fresh.  The oatmeal was a good consistency and tasty.  The soups were good.  The green beans weren't too soggy or stringy.  The veggie burger I had one day was nicely spiced.  The rice was done perfectly.  I kind of looked forward to meal time, to tell the truth. And I was able to make choices and to try a variety of different entres and side dishes.

On the other hand, the coffee and tea were both incredibly bitter. I stuck with water.

Overall, given the industrialized systems approach to food production and delivery, I thought it wasn't too bad. Three stars.

But ... the night before I was discharged I was up at about 3 a.m. to use the bathroom.  I went for a walk around the halls to stretch my legs.  And I caught the nurses.  They were updating records on computers and getting ready to do their rounds while, up on the counter in plain view, was a big bag of ripple chips and two kinds of dip.  Embarrassed, they said only on the night shift would they ever do such a thing.  Never during the day shift on the cardiac unit would they eat such high fat high salt treats!  But I discovered their little secret. And took two chips in exchange for keeping quiet.

Though the food was OK, it was very very nice to finally get home and to have a fresh crispy salad and to fire up the BBQ for some grilled chicken and fish.  Not having to mass produce thousands of easily transported and re-heated meals makes a huge difference.