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Richmond Hospital introduces culturally inspired meals for inpatients
Eight dishes designed by local Chinese cuisine chefs aim to offer familiar, nourishing meals while reducing the carbon footprint of hospital food.
Richmond Hospital has added culturally inspired meals to its inpatient menu through Vancouver Coastal Health’s Planetary Health Menu project. Local chefs William Lew and Sharon Chan designed eight dishes with Richmond’s population in mind; about 50 per cent of the city’s residents are ethnically Chinese.
The new offerings include Chinese egg and tomato stir-fry, chicken and mushroom congee, Hainanese chicken and rice, braised eggplant claypot, Hong Kong-style Portuguese baked curry and braised e-fu noodles. Lew and Chan, who specialize in Chinese cuisine and advocate for sustainable food systems, said the dishes are intended to provide comfort and cultural familiarity for patients.
Chan said patients have told the chefs that the food brought them back home. She said meal times can offer people in hospital a moment that feels less lonely or painful, and described food as a way to show care when someone is ill.
Lew said the project also emphasizes plant-based, lower-carbon foods, including versions that use vegetable proteins such as tofu crumble in place of pork or other animal meat. VCH regional food services strategic projects manager Liena Pow said the recipes were designed to meet nutritional needs, reflect cultural diversity and reduce the carbon footprint of meals.
Pow said patients have asked for comfort and familiarity in their food, and that meals patients will eat may also help reduce food waste. The ingredient-sourcing and recipe-development process involved a year of evaluation by patient partners, clinical dietitians and hospital staff, with feedback collected through patient surveys and food-waste measurements.
Volunteer patient food taster Patricia Lai said the egg-and-tomato dish and chicken congee reminded her of home and childhood, adding that people may have a better appetite when the food reflects their culture. Pow said the recipes from the initiative will be used at all VCH sites to broaden cultural diversity on health-care menus.