Is There Hope for Hospital Food?

Photo: Mike Groll / AP Photo

Who wants to eat in a hospital? We're guessing most of you would rather head for a school cafeteria or an airline, if given the option. Anyone who's ever found themselves in a hospital bed quickly discovers that medical centers and rehabilitation facilities aren't exactly the best places in town to nab nutritious grub. To be fair, hospital kitchens are dealing with the pickiest stomachs on earth because of an endless variety of dietary restrictions. It's enough to make even the most skilled chef quiver. Enter Lynne Eddy, instructor for Food Service Management in Health Care, a first-of-its-kind course at the Culinary Institute of America.

"We're dealing with medications, chewing problems...we could talk for eons about it," says Eddy. She comes to the CIA as a registered dietitian with 25 years' experience in the industry, and this month, she'll send off her first batch of graduates equipped to serve as entry-level managers in health care facilities.
"When I started to look at where the demographics are going, I just think it's a wonderful career option for our students to consider," she says.

Offered in the second semester of senior year, the course welcomes students in the final leg of their bachelor's degree in either Culinary Arts or Baking and Pastry Arts who already have courses in nutrition and management under their belts. In Eddy's class, students are exposed to medical terminology, hospital budgets and health care politics. Over the 15-week period, students hear from guest speakers along every stop on the cafeteria line -- from executive chefs working on doctor-recommended menu development to a representative from one of the largest manufacturers of those ubiquitous orange trays.

The classes also take field trips to nearby facilities in the Hudson Valley, where CIA calls home, and a medical center in New York City to actually get face time with potential clientele, from healthy seniors in assisted living condos to cancer patients in large hospitals. At the third-week mark, students take on mentorships at an assigned facility, and at the end of the class, they present a report on the pros and cons of the operation.

It may take a while for that slab of gray meat and soggy vegetables to disappear, but here's to a program that's building a future where food for the sick ... doesn't make us sick.