Institute For The Future

Hospital food—not so yucky any more

Rarely does one hear about tasty—let alone healthy—hospital food.  That's about to change at Stanford Hospital and Clinics, located adjacent to Palo Alto, California.  Yesterday, the Hospital announced the launch of a new inpatient menu that will feature organic, locally grown, sustainable ingredients. The initiative was developed with local chef/restaurateur Jesse Cool, who has been a leader in healthy eating and sustainable food practices for decades. (With apologies to chef Cool for a comparison she probably has heard too many times and may not appreciate, when I first moved to Palo Alto from Berkeley, my impression was that Jesse Cool was the Alice Waters of the area, and that her landmark restaurant, the Flea Street Cafe, was the Chez Panisse of the Peninsula.)

Stanford Hospital, in recognizing the vital connection between serving healthy food and helping "patients heal as quickly as possible," has put itself at the forefront of an emerging trend. The Farm Fresh program

 

debuts as groups ranging from the American Medical Association to the American Nurses Association have recently established policies to encourage hospitals and other health care facilities to serve patients healthier and ecologically sustainable foods with natural high nutritional quality. The American Public Health Association has also endorsed a similar policy.

 

Cool, a dedicated advocate of organic food, grown locally with sustainable farming techniques, worked with the hospital's executive chef to develop what might be described as a 200 Mile Diet (a play on the 100 Mile Diet movement). 

 

The ingredients for Stanford Hospital’s Farm Fresh meals will primarily come from growers and producers within a 200-mile radius of Stanford Medical Center, based on seasonal availability. Among the items featured will be vegetables from local farms, olive oil from Napa Valley, strawberries from Watsonville, organic dairy from Petaluma, pasture raised range chickens and grass-fed range beef from Marin and Sonoma, and whole grain bread from a San Francisco bakery.

 

Although I have never been to Flea Street Cafe, I have eaten at Jesse Cool's other establishments, and I can vouch for the quality, freshness, and tastiness of her food. So as much as I hope to not be a Stanford Hospital patient again any time soon, if for some reason I do end up there, at least I can look forward to a good meal.