I imagine that hospital food administration is one of the toughest, most thankless jobs in the world. While most chefs have to deal with poorly-trained waiters and difficult customers, hospital kitchens have to deal with untrained orderlies and patients who are, probably, at their worst. Chefs may have to work with ingredients that are less than ideal, but hospital kitchens have to try to make palatable, mainstream food out of relatively healthy ingredients, often in the absence of oil, salt, and other staples. If a chef gets a complaint, it might mean a poor review or a torn up check; if a hospital kitchen gets a complaint, it might mean a malpractice suit.

The best hospital kitchens provide tasty, comforting food to hundreds of patients and their families. When they're thoughtful and caring, it can really show through, as in the case of the Geisinger Clinic of Danville, Pennsylvania. Their restaurants, are consistently clean, well-staffed, and cheery, with delicious, reasonably-priced offerings. Since the same kitchens supply both the patients and the hospital restaurants, the options for both are pretty impressive. On the other hand, some hospitals (I'm looking at you, Montgomery County Regional!), simply phone it in. When my friend Maggie was hospitalized and needed a high-fat diet, the kitchen sent her a bowl of stock with a quarter stick of butter floating in it. Trying hard to avoid losing her appetite, Maggie called down to the kitchen and discovered that her other option had been a bacon cheeseburger. The chef had assumed that she'd prefer oily, salty broth with a scrim of butter!

Recently, Ashland Community Hospital in Oregon completely changed the way it delivers food to its patients. To begin with, it stopped the standard mealtime deliveries, opting instead for a system that allows patients to order food when they are hungry. Moreover, it ensured that they would actually get hungry by offering a wider array of foods. There isn't any data yet on the overall cost effectiveness of the new program, but patients are already raving about the choice. Moreover, as other hospital kitchens have determined that food waste is one of their largest costs, this program should probably save Ashland a lot of money.