This Is Not Just Food, This Is Japanese HOSPITAL Food

It’s a widely-recognised reality that hospital food is something you tolerate during your – hopefully short – stay.

In the case of a maternity stay the food usually needs to be supplemented with better – and healthier – meals from home.

We’ve all heard – and experienced – tales of soggy breaded chicken with tiny portions of overcooked broccoli or undercooked carrots. Scrambled eggs that taste like dishwater with cold burnt toast – and no fruit.

However, one new mom’s recent post on Imgur showed us what hospital food could be. The woman, who goes by Hahahah1111111, showed off her beautifully presented meals.

Warning: these photos will give you serious food envy.

One dish was Omuraisu (a Japanese rice omelet), macaroni salad, chicken soup, squid rings, fruit, green tea. Another meal consisted of sea bream, pasta salad, chicken meatballs, pickled daikon, rice, miso soup, chawanmushi, green tea.

All of the meals were served with the main dish in a plate, accompanied by lots of tiny bowls, containing delicious-looking salad, rice and fruit.

I recently gave birth in Japan. Here is some of the hospital food I ate.

Given the tone of delight in the post, it’s fair to assume that she comes from a country where hospital food does not look like this.

One commenter wrote:

‘I work in an US hospital and the food we serve our patients is the kind of stuff that most likely landed them there in the first place.’

Another joked:

‘I wanna give birth in Japan. And I am a 60 year old man…’

It’s all very well to joke, but it is during this time when you most need healthy nutritious food. And we’re not getting it here.

However, the good news is that some hospitals are responding to feedback, with one of the main Dublin maternity hospitals overhauling its menu as a result of a post on social media. New mammy Lisa Carey’s tweet and photo of the sausage roll and burnt potato wedges with a dash of ketchup masquerading as a meal during her stay at the Coombe prompted the hospital to review its catering options.

Teatime in the Coombe. What has this country come to??? Shame on everyone who believes that this is acceptable. pic.twitter.com/4knB4Lif

— Lisa Carey (@liercarey) January 9, 2013

The Coombe’s revised menu now includes fruit as a dessert option, and a salad choice is offered twice daily. Meat and fish are freshly prepared made in-house.

Hopefully, other hospitals will follow its lead soon.