At home, at my in-law’s house, on Facebook and even on Twitter, the recurring topic is how a lot of people are down with colds and cough with flu-like symptoms. In my family, I was the first to catch it a week or so before Christmas. I was down for two days and missed I don’t know how many parties. I thought I was just tired and my immunity was down. But Sam and Alex in their condo in the city caught the bug too at around the same time. Many of their friends got it too. We were just starting to recover when Speedy got hit by the virus the day before we were scheduled to host a post New Year party at home. I cancelled the party. Predictably or not, the virus seems to be making a second round and we’re all sniffing and coughing again. But, this time, it was just Speedy who got plastered on the bed with fever. I could move around and write and cook. I fed him with what I thought would make him feel better.
A hot bowl of congee. Or you can call it arroz caldo, lugaw or pospas, if you like. They all refer to the same thing — soupy boiled rice. Cooked with lots of ginger and delicious chicken broth (homemade, of course), and served with chicken meat and all the trimmings. What you see in the photo was what I gave him. Not “sick” food at all.
Which brings me to the part where I wonder why, in hospitals, instead of tempting the sick to eat well to get nourishment, they serve you food that I can only describe as food guaranteed to make you even more sick. I can understand that with people who have digestion issues, fat-free and low-salt dishes are prescribed. But for the rest…?? If the taste buds are numbed by illness, isn’t it more logical to try and tickle the taste buds and tempt the patient with aromatic and flavorful food? I have very, very bad memories of hospital food.
After graduating from law school, I got very sick. Never mind the ugly details — suffice to say that I was getting blood transfusions every few months and it took some two years and five specialists to figure out what was wrong with me. Note that during all that time, there was nothing wrong with my digestion nor my appetite, and I was supposed to be on a high protein and high iron diet. Yet, during each hospital confinement, I would get food for the invalid — the kind meant for old people with terrible heart and hypertension problems. Plain boiled rice with table salt on the side. Plain boiled vegetables with specks of brown that could be passed off as meat.
My goodness, I think I lost five pounds after each confinement. I remember that I was confined a few times at Capitol Medical Center which was (still is) very near a lot of restaurants. My mother would go and buy food from those restaurants (maybe she couldn’t stomach the hospital food either) so we could eat decent food. My brother who was still a law student at the time would pass by the hospital everyday on his way home and eat whatever he found on the hospital tray. Which was always plentiful because it was untouched. He preferred that to going home, finding no food there and having to prepare a meal for himself.
Perhaps it was because of all those bad memories that when I became a mother, whenever my girls (and Speedy) get sick, I make sure that they eat well. In fact, I make it a point to ask what they’d like to eat. Because a huge part of fast recovery is feeling good and comfortable. So comfort food that makes them feel good — whether it be lugaw or chicken noodle soup or pizza — makes sense. I just wish that people who run hospitals would understand that.
Cold coconut soup
Jhay
01/10/2011 at 12:31 pmI think this was also one of the calls made by Patch Adams on hospitals. Food should be enjoyable and something that will reinvigorate your spirit not just nourish the body.
I wonder though what Patch will say when he sees a tray of food served in our government hospitals.
Connie Veneracion
01/10/2011 at 1:46 pmAnd another thing… hospitals should have mini-parks or gardens where patients can relax as part of their recovery. Like you said, recovering from illness is just as much as reinvigorating the spirit.
Starshadow Rivaulx
01/10/2011 at 11:12 pmTHIS! Hubby was occasionally confined at Makati Med for two nights, to recover from bouts of pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs, an offshoot of his cardiac problem). We’d get into the ER, it would take about four hours to stabilize him (basically, drain off all the excess fluid, x-ray, admissions process), then we’d be transferred to the room.
He would be stir-crazy by morning of the next day. Once the doctors had finished rounds, he would walk me down to McDonald’s, get a paper while I got breakfast, and then back to his room. To his credit, he never roamed the hospital by himself, but oh, the palpitations he gave the nursing staff whenever they saw him walk out with me…*grin*
If there had been some sort of roofdeck for him to enjoy the view and stuff, that would have made it more bearable for him, I’m sure.
Connie Veneracion
01/11/2011 at 8:24 pmWhen Sam and Alex were toddlers, they’d get confined occasionally at the hospital for intestinal flu. Their pedia had her office at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (formerly Lungsod ng Kabataan) so that was where the girls would get confined. The architecture of that place is wonderful. Wide, wide corridors that overlooked the central garden. Patients were, in fact, encouraged to go around (in wheelchairs if still on IV drip).
For all the invectives I’ve hurled at Imelda Marcos, that was one beautiful (and intelligently functional) hospital that she built.
Marie (abu dhabi)
01/10/2011 at 2:20 pmi remember when my husband got a surgery for appendicities (here in abu dhabi)…they would serve him grilled chicken with rice and steamed vegetable that i always ended up finishing since my husband has little appetite then and because it was very very tasty :) actually i was always looking up on what they will serve him next hehehe
i don’t know what’s with the hospital food in the Philippines but i do remember being served plain boiled rice (as my lunch or dinner) when i was once confined :(
Connie Veneracion
01/10/2011 at 4:12 pmBudget, maybe? Or just really badly trained nutritionists. Hospital food here is murder.
Mik
01/10/2011 at 4:18 pmWhen my dad used to get confined when he was still alive, I don’t remember the hospital food being that bad. It was sort of carinderia fare (I always wondered how a hospital could serve such oily/fatty stuff) opposite yata experiences natin haha.
When I gave birth here in Australia and was confined for a little over a week they would give me a piece of paper with each meal. The piece of paper would have a list of food for the next meal and you can mark your choices. The choices were always healthy and while not resto style were pretty substantial and yummy. One time I forgot to give my slip of paper for breakfast to the kitchen staff (on it I marked porridge and fresh fruit) and at breakfast, they gave me a small box of cereal and a small milk box, a cheese omelette and two pieces of toast, fresh fruit, fruit juice, coffee. Yung hindi lang ata binigay na nasa list was the porridge haha
Connie Veneracion
01/10/2011 at 4:25 pmWow, that list gives the hospital confinement a hotel-like experience!
Re hospitals here: I’ve been confined in at least four different hospitals (including the two CS births) and none had palatable food. :(
Mik
01/10/2011 at 4:37 pmThat’s sad, C. I was confined for CS birth too and I was so thankful for the “room service” haha kasi it just let me focus on getting better and taking care of my baby (over here they room the babies in with the mother instead of putting all the babies in the nursery). The food choices I had actually made a huge difference when I left the hospital. I found myself (out of habit) making healthier food choices when I started making my own meals again (esp because I was also bfeeding). More importantly, I also retained the “portion control” so I actually lost a lot of my pregnancy weight quickly and kept it off.
Connie Veneracion
01/10/2011 at 5:00 pmYou know, I could understand the bland congee right after surgery. But the day after, and the next, wow… Speedy and I would just eat the food gifts from visitors. LOL
pinayhekmi
01/10/2011 at 4:50 pmMy dad was confined in a hospital overnight for a kidney stone. His hospital had a menu to choose from…a MENU! With steak, pasta, and kung ano ano pa. I really wanted to order off it lol. Papa got the steak. He approved. :D
When I was confined in the hospital after my C-section they started me off with bland foods (protocol after surgery), and then worked me up to regular foods….I really enjoyed it. :D
Connie Veneracion
01/10/2011 at 5:03 pmSteak??? Wow. I’d settle for a well-cooked sweet and sour pork or anything that’s seasoned. Gee, when I recall the soggy vegetables, I still smirk. I remember in particular a patola and ground pork dish with some liquid that really looked and tasted like water.
Right now, I really feel the Third World blues hahaha
pinayhekmi
01/10/2011 at 5:25 pmI’m surprised there aren’t any hospitals yet in the Phils, esp the high end ones, who offer good menu choices yet. I bet if you hawk your cooking there they’d pay whatever markup you charge lol
Connie Veneracion
01/10/2011 at 5:33 pmThere are high end hospitals. St. Luke’s, Makati Med, Medical City…
I was confined at Makati Med twice but that was in the late 1980s. They already had the famous Floating Island Resto at the time but that was resto food. The food in trays still sucked. Medical City, I was confined once in the 1990s when I was pregnant with Sam. Sucky food too. I don’t know if things are better these days. Or how the food are at the other high end hospitals.
Re hawking: Nice business idea hahaha
fredsimpsons
01/10/2011 at 6:35 pmIts seems for my family too, many thanks, :)
Lance
01/10/2011 at 7:04 pmIn the public hospital were I’m training, the food isn’t that swell, possibly owing to the lack of budget. Haven’t tasted it myself, but it doesn’t look so appetizing. Maybe our food handlers can learn from your recipes.
Connie Veneracion
01/11/2011 at 10:51 amLance, show them my blog haha And recommend a higher budget to management too.
Lance
01/11/2011 at 7:44 pmWho knows? I might just get a chance to link them here—and then the hospital will register higher recovery rates. Haha.
Connie Veneracion
01/11/2011 at 8:25 pmFor the sake of patients, I really wish. :)