Okay, so I *do* have something else to say about the food.

[rivka]

When I considered staying home with Alex and sending Michael to Memphis alone, I figured that I would take her down to the hospital where I work to have dinner in the cafeteria. Their food is surprisingly good (no, it's not the stuff you get on a patient tray), and I'm pretty sure that they do holiday meals in a big way.

As I was paying for lunch today, I looked down at my tray: sherried cream of wild mushroom soup, red-skinned mashed potatoes and gravy, a big pile of crisp steamed broccoli, a piece of coconut cake, and some unsweetened iced tea. And it hit me: it would have been lonely and sad to have Thanksgiving in the hospital cafeteria, sure, but the food would have been better.

Comments

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

The hospital I gave birth in had the BEST chocolate cake. It was so good I had it for like every meal I had there that wasn't breakfast!

[going-not-gone.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. When hospital-cafeteria food is the preferable option...well, that's just sad. Racist AND a lousy cook? Your visit there takes on an aura of noble sacrifice that is probably visible from space.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I thought the food at the hospital where I gave birth was great, too, but that might just have been because I was so HUNGRY.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Well, for context, I usually eat at the hospital cafeteria by choice even though there are other options close by. It really is pretty tasty, and it combines healthiness and cheapness in a way that's hard to beat.

But still, yeah, it's a sad commentary.

[cheshyre]

That's one thing I remember fondly from college: Thanksgiving dinner.
As uninspired as "industrial" food often is, for those few people stuck behind on the holidays, they really went all out.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

I think hospital cafeterias underwent some kind of sneaky culinary transformation sometime in the last decade, because all the ones I've visited recently have had *excellent* food.

Still and all, I empathize; it can be a trial for anyone of even slight foodie sensibilities to dine with relations who ... aren't. I have a sibling who honestly doesn't care what food tastes like as long as it provides sufficent nutrients. )-:

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

When my office was located across the street from the hospital (incidentally, the same one where the EB was born) we used to voluntarily go there for lunch. As in, we were regular enough that the cafeteria staff knew us, and usually gave us the employee discount. :)

I live nearby too, and sometimes think I should walk over a few blocks to get some soup someday. Their soup is the best. Hmmmm.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I think hospital cafeterias underwent some kind of sneaky culinary transformation sometime in the last decade, because all the ones I've visited recently have had *excellent* food.

The hospital cafeteria next door to my work office is good enough that (when the place isn't in lockdown mode because of SARS protocol) they take our job interview candidates there for lunch.

On the other hand, the food provided to inpatients seems to be quite awful. Apparently it gets made and assembled onto the trays in a city two hours away. The word on the street is that for health care you should go to the big hospital here, but for food you should go to the tiny hospital in the next town.

[pariyal.livejournal.com]

What's wrong with chocolate cake for breakfast, especially when you've just given birth?

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

The hospital cafeteria next door to my work office is good enough that (when the place isn't in lockdown mode because of SARS protocol) they take our job interview candidates there for lunch.

On the other hand, the food provided to inpatients seems to be quite awful. Apparently it gets made and assembled onto the trays in a city two hours away.

what's up with that? do they think feeding bad food to ill people will make them get well faster?

n.

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

Mean ol' husbands who thought I should be eating nutritious food instead of chocolate cake...

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

It has been my experience as well that hospital cafeterias tend to have food that isn't just good by cafeteria standards, but good by general standards. We'd trek over to the hospital for lunch as often as possible in college.

[richtermom.livejournal.com]

My dad frequents different hospitals in the area. He'll hit the VA on days he attends meetings there. He'll go to the one near the lake during summer, or the one where I gave birth when he's near there. He'll probably stop in at about five different hospitals over the course of a month just for their cafeterias.

He's a 74 year old man without a fridge. But he's been doing this for YEARS.

At least we know if we're in the hospital he'll DEFINITELY visit.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

my favorite thanksgiving ever, food wise, was in a hospital cafeteria. (i do admit, the sheer blessed relief i was feeling at the time might have had something to do with it, too. but i digress.)

it was a cheeseburger, french fries, and canned peaches.

i know, i know, i'm a heathen. ;)

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

When I was at Walter Reed, the cafeteria food was decent.

When I was an inpatient the meal service was wretched (lunch) to better than decent (dinner).

On the other hand (not that I was told this right away) since I wasn't on a specialized diet, I was allowed to have anything being served in the Cafeteria sent up to me.

Since I was on 60 mg of prednisone, I didn't avail myself of this, I merely ordered regular meals, and then (when I had eaten them) went down for a second breakfast (eggs; scrambled with onions, cheese and tomatoes, to order... almost worth the price of admission) and lunch and things to tide me over to the next meal.

I was eating some 6,000 calories a day.

I gained some weight.

TK

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

The best meal I've ever tasted was a pickle.

I was actually faint with hunger and that pickle was divine. I ate it while my girlfriend was making me the best sandwich I have ever tasted (black forest ham, mustard, lettuce and tomato, on sourdough).

TK

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

It must make them eager to leave the hospital... but I think boredom and general pokey-proddiness and so forth should be sufficient for that.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

The muffins in our hospital staff cafeteria were so famous that we begged for (and got) the recipe, and it passed from hand to hand round the whole library.