“Hospital food” has long been synonymous with packaged, ultraprocessed meals — despite the fact that hospitals are meant to promote healing.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital at the Great American State Fair in Washington, DC, Michelin-star chef Geoffrey Zakarian shared his initiative to improve what is served in US hospitals, following the concept that “food is medicine.”
For the last three years, Zakarian said he’s been working on changing hospital food — most notably at Tampa General, which is a $4 billion nonprofit, 1,000-bed public hospital.
On Thursday, July 16, Tampa General Hospital CEO John Couris signed the “Make Hospital Food Healthier” pledge during a news conference attended by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins and Zakarian.
The pledge commits the hospital to serving more nutritious, minimally processed meals to patients, building on Zakarian’s menu overhaul.
“We’ve changed the entire menu,” the celebrity chef told Fox News Digital. “We’ve taken all seed oils out, sugar, maltodextrin. Anything bad in a box is gone. Anything good is brought in.”
“We’re serving mac and cheese. We’re serving hanger steak and fries. We’re serving chicken with couscous. We do all our protein shakes. No protein shakes in the box anymore. We do fruit shakes, smoothies, fresh sorbet,” the chef listed. “So, you’re eating like your grandmother’s cooking for you.”
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz has also supported Zakarian in this mission, telling Fox News Digital that the chef has “revolutionized our thinking” around hospital food.
“How do we get the hospitals to do what [Zakarian] has been doing the frontier work on, get them to actually embrace food as part of the healing process?” he questioned. “Because most patients, and most doctors, know that the food in the hospital is not going to make you better.”
Oz noted that while hospital food may provide some nutrients, it is generally not seen as contributing meaningfully to patients’ recovery.
The biggest challenge to getting better food into hospital systems has been cost, Zakarian pointed out.
While “everything is fractionalized,” what’s left over after paying for supplies is put toward food, which generally “ain’t much,” he said.
“It’s, like, $3.50 a person per plate, which is an extraordinarily small amount,” the chef said. “You go to McDonald’s, and you spend 12 bucks for a happy meal, and we give you $3.50 in a hospital. So that’s an unhappy meal as far as I’m concerned.”
Instead of charging hospitals for each plate served, Zakarian’s approach relies on a flat annual fee, saving money through a smaller, higher-quality menu.
“Yummy food, not just food to fill people up,” he said. “Nutritious food, bioavailable food, food that’s satiating.”
“I’m cooking like I would cook in a restaurant. I’m cooking like my mother cooked for me. There’s no difference.”
The chef continued, “When you’re lying in bed in a hospital gown, you feel alone, you feel exposed, you feel sick … When you have a fresh protein shake or a fresh healthy smoothie, or you can order steak frites … that [makes] your day.”
Freelance writer Teresa Mull contributed to this report.
