Providence Health Care is answering the question with goat cheese quiche, herbed tilapia, butternut squash soup, lamb, cannelloni, rice pudding and apple crumble — tasty dishes that look, smell and taste anything but institutional.
A $50,000 grant from Women in Philanthropy for Providence has allowed Providence to revamp its menu with 50 new recipes to spice up its three-week cycle of meals offered to almost 300 residents of the Cardinal Ambrozic Houses of Providence and nearly 600 patients on the hospital side of the operation.
Executive chef and culinary consultant Mark Wilson spent four months working on the project to improve the dining experience at the east Toronto hospital. The classically trained British-born chef who has been an instructor at George Brown College, a restaurant chef and a food consultant to some of the world’s largest airlines is aware of the challenge in presenting appetizing food on a large scale.
“Everybody tells you the worst thing on the plane or the worst thing in hospital is the food,” Wilson said.
It isn’t just the institutional setting that separates what happens in the hospital kitchen from the fantasy world of celebrity chefs on the Food Network. Providence’s food budget went up three cents this year to $7.46 per patient, per day. That has to cover three meals and three snacks and it must be dietician approved. The big institutional kitchen in the basement is not crowded. Lead chef Sohan Singh is assisted by 1.8 cooks (one of them works a six-hour shift) and one assistant cook.
Many people who wonder why hospital food all tastes the same probably don’t realize that many hospitals no longer have a real kitchen. Everything they serve is pre-prepared off site and at best warmed up at the hospital. Providence’s new menu turns back the clock a little on the trend away from in-house cooking, asking its cooks to produce more meals from basic ingredients — fresh herbs, spices, meats and vegetables.
“A lot of the staff have good skills,” said Wilson. “For them it’s fun to get back to cooking.”
For Houses of Providence resident Fr. Paul Lennon it’s fun to get back to eating.
“I certainly enjoy food,” said the former Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Vincent de Paul pastor.
As the new menu has been gradually rolled out, Lennon has noticed and delighted in the difference. One of the first new things he tried was a spicy frittata.
“It was different. I don’t think I’ve tasted anything like it,” he said. “This is a treat, what we’ve been getting lately.”
As the process of constructing a new menu got underway, Wilson showed up with 130 possible recipes. He tried out between 80 and 90 of them on staff and residents, eventually winnowing it down to 50.
Providence staff got to be part of the process by entering a recipe contest. Providence Healthcare Foundation president and CEO Jennifer Stewart will be remembered at least once every three weeks when her prize-winning chicken makes it on the menu.
The staff of six dieticians working under nutrition and food services director Jean Labranche has approved all the offerings, which have almost eliminated salt from many dishes.
Managing health and managing costs are important goals, but ultimately it’s about an important element in everyone’s daily life, said Wilson.
“If anything, it’s to make their lives more interesting, more rewarding,” he said.