When you are in hospital you probably don't think of where the food comes from, but, unless you are extremely sick, it's likely to be among the day's highlights. And not only because it's a break in the day, but also because of the quality and care that has gone into planning and producing it.
If you're in Dunedin Public Hospital, Wakari or even Invercargill, your meal comes from a large kitchen in the basement of Dunedin Public Hospital.
Presided over by head chef Kostya Cherkun, the kitchen produces more than 498,000 meals a year, not only for patients in the three hospitals, but also for meals on wheels, and for the staff cafe.
Because it's a hospital kitchen it needs to be able to cater for about 60 special diets, from vegetarian, gluten-free, low fat, and dairy-free to liquid or pureed food and other therapeutic diets. And, of course, it has to be healthy.
Chef Cherkun says they use lean meat, skinless chicken and cut down on fats and sugar in their dishes.
Keeping track of who orders what, and which patients are on special diets must be an administrative minefield, but it all seems to run smoothly.
At one side of the kitchen, the plating line was busy serving meals on trays according to patient requests. As each tray was loaded, it was slid into a Burlodge cabinet which has two compartments, one hot and the other cold. The cabinet is heated/chilled in a docking station for 20 minutes before being taken to the ward and the meals delivered to the patients in their beds.
Menus work on a three-week cycle and there are several choices at each meal, as well as special dishes made for those on special diets.
Dietitian Ruth Thompson works with the kitchen staff to fine-tune menus and dishes to be suitable for the different diets according to clinical evidence.
The average cost of food per patient is $7 a day: $1 for breakfast, and $3 each for lunch and dinner, which are two or three courses.
I was invited to lunch at Sarah's Table in the middle of the kitchen.
At the lunches in memory of the late Sarah Marshall, the hospital's former hospitality operations manager, guests are presented with some of the hospital food for that day, and new dishes, and asked for feedback. Current hospitality operations manager Justin Bellass hopes to make it a six-monthly event, inviting suppliers, chefs, health officers and others to see what happens in the kitchen.
Mr Bellass said the hospital aimed to source ingredients locally and ethically, to reduce food miles and the carbon footprint, and suppliers have to label where the food comes from.
And the food?
Well, it would almost be worth being in hospital for. On that day's menu, my picks were the mildly spiced Moroccan chicken with coconut and coriander rice, and the couscous and roast vegetable terrine (the vegetarian option) which was both attractive and delicious.
A couple of new soups were presented for tasting: a lovely cream of carrot soup and a slightly spicy celery and red capsicum one.
Among the new main dishes we were helping evaluate was a delicious fricassee of chicken with grain mustard and tarragon sauce and a Cornish pasty with a lovely crumbly pastry, but I found the filling a tad too salty.
However, these dishes are still at the tweaking stage. It takes a long time to develop each new dish to meet not only nutritional requirements but also to keep within the cost constraints.
Cream of carrot soup
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
12g butter
200g carrots, sliced
100g white onion, sliced
600mls vegetable stock
2 cloves of garlic
150mls milk (use blue top for that creamy taste)
salt and pepper
METHOD
Melt butter in a saucepan, add the carrots and onion and fry gently until softened but not browned, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the stock and garlic and bring to the boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 20 minutes until the carrots are tender.
Transfer to a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Return to the pan, add the milk and seasoning and heat through gently.
Calories, 76; protein (g), 2; fat (g), 4.3; carbohydrate (g), 7.9.
Celery and red pepper soup
INGREDIENTS
Serves 4
12g butter
1/2 head celery, trimmed and chopped
180g red peppers cored, de-seeded and roughly chopped
480mls milk (blue top)
3g grated nutmeg
1 bay leaf
5g chopped thyme and tarragon
280mls chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
METHOD
Melt butter in a saucepan, add the celery and peppers and fry gently for about 5 minutes until softened.
Add all the remaining ingredients and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 20 minutes until the celery is tender.
Transfer to a food processor or blender and process until smooth, strain and then return to the pan. Add the milk and seasoning and heat through gently.
Calories, 122; protein (g), 4.8; fat (g), 7.6; carbohydrate (g) 9.4.
