Hospital Meals Inimical To Patients’ Healing Process, Say Chefs
CHEFS have described hospital meals as
inimical to the healing process of patients.
Making the assertion in Lagos recently during
an event to mark International Chef Day at
Eko Hotel, Lagos, the chefs said although
meals ought to complement drugs for patients,
most hospitals don’t have provision for in-
house food service.
The International Chef Day is aimed at
raising awareness concerning the
culinary profession, as well as to
highlight the important roles chefs play
in the development of societies
worldwide. The theme of this year’s
celebration is: ‘Healthy Kids, Healthy
Future’, a theme that highlights the
importance of food in moulding the
future of children.
The Chief Operating Officer of Hotel,
Restaurants, Café, Bakery and Beverage
(HoReCaBB) Mentors, Mr Eric Mekwuye,
a celebrity chef, said adequate nutrition
should be viewed as important part of
the healing process for patients seeking
treatment in hospitals.
Mekwuye, who is a West African
training partner in food service
certification for the State University of
New York – Global Foodservice Institute
(SUNY-GFI), encouraged chefs across the
federation to get certified in culinary
nutrition to assist patients.
Mekwuye said: “Nutritious and healthy
food intake is crucial to the wellbeing of
people everywhere. It should be
accessible especially within the food
service chain, commercial or non-
commercial. Tasty and well-presented
meals do not necessarily mean they are
healthy. On the other hand, using certain
well-known health-benefit food material
also does not mean the end menu
product will be beneficial for the
consumer. The desired result rather is
achieved only when such food materials
are properly used and with the intended
consumer’s need in mind.
Chefs of today must rise above the basics
of tasty and good presentations. Lots of
people are becoming health conscious
and chefs should be able to combine the
art of excellent nutritious menu planning
that meet the needs of all audience with
great cooking and presentation.
“Hospital food has come into focus in
recent time due to reports of under‐
nutrition and at the same time, food
service has undergone significant
changes. For instance, in many
developing countries like Nigeria, a lot of
people who are either on hospital
admission or on regular medical
appointments, live on medication for
what simple change of life style and
proper nutritious eating could solve. A
well informed chef who understands the
nutritional value, chemical composition
and food safety risk of every food
materials in his or her kitchen, may be
just what is needed.
It is very important that food is
attractive, appetising, palatable, and
nutritious and meets the cultural and
social needs of patients as well as their
clinical needs. Adequate nutrition intake
is an important part of healing the
hospital patient. In general, under-
nutrition is associated with loss of
muscle strength and impaired immune
function, which can lead to an increase
in complication rates, infection rates,
and mortality. Promoting optimal
nutritional status through quality
hospital foodservice can lead to faster
recovery and decreased length of
hospital stay which can have a large
impact on hospital costs.
With the exception of very few, most
hospitals do not have provision for in-
house food service or properly set up
food service and so patients live on food
gotten from locations outside, where
certain key issues like nutrition and food
safety are relegated to the background.
Others simply have an arrangement with
a caterer whose business is to provide
meals as scheduled without proper
understanding of why certain food types
should be served to certain patients or
how to prepare certain meals that will
taste the same and sometimes even
better without using ingredients the
patient’s body no longer tolerates so he
could still be happy eating his favourite
meal.
Tasty and well-presented meals do not
necessarily mean they are healthy. On
the other hand, using certain well-known
health-benefit food material also does
not mean the end menu product will be
beneficial for the consumer. The desired
result rather is achieved only when such
food materials are properly used and
with the intended consumer’s need in
mind.
For instance, preparing certain menu
item known to be high in sodium for a
BP patient without salt, planning and
preparing menu for cancer patients that
is still colourful and appealing, planning
and preparing menu for the elderly, and
other low immune patients.
Chefs trained and certified in Culinary
Nutrition, who can both read and
interpret nutritional information,
procure food materials, prepare and
serve menu as per the needs of the
intended consumers, will be in high
demand for so many obvious reasons.
These new crop of food service
professionals will fill in this life-saving
and cost-effective need.
Forward looking chefs and cooks alike
are encouraged to learn what it takes, get
certified in Culinary Nutrition and then
project themselves on how they can work
with hospitals to bring about this much
desired change for a healthier nation of
great people.”
On his part, Executive Chef of
Metropolitan Club, Mr Nick Maaji, said
hospital food service has become messy
because “Nigerians do not believe in
indigenous chefs,” adding that Nigerians
used to view anyone “working in the
kitchen as a laid-back person.”
Maaji, who called for a change of
attitude towards chefs, said chefs should
be conscious of food safety processes and
procedures, even as he advised them “to
undergo certification on food safety.”
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