United States | The best medicine

American hospital food is fast improving

More doctors are taking nutrition seriously

Mandatory Credit: Photo by David Goldman/AP/Shutterstock (11756920a)Pauline Sorrow, 71, left, is served lunch by certified nursing assistant Princess Makor while sharing the 'honeymoon suite' with her husband Peter, 62, as they both recover from COVID-19 at a field hospital set up to handle a surge of COVID-19 patients, in Cranston, R.I. "We're inspiration for each other," said Peter of being able to recover next to her in what staff calls 'the honeymoon suit'. "Just being here cheered her up." He now helps care for her: opening a stubborn lid on her lunch, cleaning a spot of food off her gown, updating their familyVirus Outbreak Field Hospital Photo Essay, Cranston, United States - 10 Feb 2021
|Chicago

Few sick people consider the quality of the food when choosing a hospital. That is perhaps just as well. Even in America, a country where private hospitals have long provided individual rooms with such comforts as personal cable television, patients are often still fed institutional food. “Mystery meat” and processed-cheese slices are common; everything gets cooked in a microwave. Many of the country’s biggest hospitals get their food from the likes of Aramark, a giant global caterer that also provides meals to schools and prisons.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “The best medicine”

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