Vancouver General Hospital pilots new plant-rich menu items for health of patients and planet

News Release: March 13, 2024

For the past six months, inpatients receiving care at Vancouver Coastal Health’s (VCH) Vancouver General Hospital have been able to fuel their healing with a diverse selection of new delicious, nutritious and environmentally sustainable menu items, thanks to a Planetary Health Menu Pilot project.

“Vancouver Coastal Health is committed to continually improving the patient experience and food is an important part of this,” said Darcia Pope, Vice-President, Strategy, Innovation and Planetary Health at Vancouver Coastal Health. “We started this project with the goal of creating flavourful, comforting meals using fresh, nutritionally dense ingredients so that patients had appealing food options to help them in their healing and recovery. We also recognized that this project presented an opportunity to look at how we could adjust our food services program to be more environmentally sustainable.”

The Planetary Health Menu Pilot project was led by Dr. Annie Lalande, surgical resident and PhD student in Resources, Environment and Sustainability at University of British Columbia (UBC), and Tiffany Chiang, Director, Food Service Transformation and Strategic Projects at VCH. They brought together food services staff, dietitians, clinicians and planetary health experts to work alongside Ned Bell, renowned chef and sustainable food champion, in developing the menu items.

More than 20 new menu items have been developed to offer patients a diversity of choices, incorporating patient preferences and ingredients with lower environmental impacts. These include dishes such as Steelhead Trout with Tomato Miso Dressing, Creamy Coconut Chickpea Curry with Cauliflower and Cashews, served with Mango Chutney and a Korean Gochujang Bowl. The new dishes were evaluated by patient partners who provided valuable feedback on the meal’s desirability during times of illness. Dishes that were favourably reviewed were served on a trial basis to inpatients at Vancouver General Hospital. Feedback was solicited through surveys and interviews throughout the process, and helped tailor the dishes to patient preferences. Food waste rates were also measured to complement patient feedback in determining how the new dishes were received.

“We’ve long used the phrase ‘food is medicine’ and we’re finding that this is true not only for patients but for our planet as well,” says Dr. Annie Lalande. “Providing tasty, nutritious meals, which is critical to recovery from illness and injury, also presents a significant opportunity to decrease our environmental footprint by focusing on lower-impact ingredients.”

“Sustainable food and food systems have been a passion of mine throughout my career,” says Chef Ned Bell. “Working to develop menu items that are sustainable and also appeal to a wide variety of tastes on such a massive scale was challenging, but the work we’ve done here has been so rewarding.”

The Planetary Health Menu Pilot has recently concluded. During the coming months, following data analysis, the menu items that patients enjoyed the most will be incorporated into menus across VCH.

This is the first project funded by the Vancouver Coastal Health Boehringer Ingelheim Collaboration (VCH-BI), a partnership announced in 2023 that provides flexible seed funding for innovation initiatives in the areas of planetary health, Indigenous health and chronic disease, and supported by the VGH + UBC Hospital Foundation.

This project was also supported by Greener By Default, who worked in collaboration with the project team on menu consultation, education and evaluation. As participants in Nourish’s second Anchor Cohort during the development of this pilot project, VCH became early adopters of their Planetary Health Menu Program.

Planetary health refers to the interdependent relationship between the health of our communities and the health of the environment, and is an area of increasing concern for health systems. VCH takes a two-pronged approach to planetary health, recognizing the need for both climate change mitigation and adaptation. Learn more about VCH’s commitment to environmental sustainability and accountability as well as other planetary health initiatives at: www.vch.ca/planetaryhealth.

Taking Inspiration from Denmark’s Example in Healthy, Sustainable Food Systems

Since 2004, a collaboration of countries known as the Nordic Cooperation, have been transforming their food system to be healthier for their populations and the environment, bringing to life the vision of the New Nordic Food Manifesto

In January 2024, Nourish’s Jen Reynolds and Amy Ford were honoured to be invited to Copenhagen by the World Resources Institute for their Coolfood Summit to learn about how these and other initiatives from around the globe are making an impact on reducing emissions that cause climate change.

We were so inspired to see the transformation 20 years on from the manifesto to now in Denmark and to learn about the journey. Food in public institutions is primarily organic (minimum 60% of ingredients), it celebrates seasonality and place, and it’s a platform for building strong healthy communities - serving, educating and engaging children, elders, hospital patients more in their food and where it comes from. Furthering momentum the Danish Action Plan for Plant-Based Foods released in 2023 charts a path to greater sustainability and health.

In attendance at the Coolfood Summit were leading experts in gastronomy, environmental research, food systems, and more. There is a growing movement of delicious climate action across the world:

  • Ikea shared highlights of their many years of work to develop a plant-based alternative to their most iconic food product, meatballs, served around the world, and celebrate its resounding success. This spurred lively discussions about the benefits of meat-imitation vs. featuring plant foods in more natural states. Ikea is seen as a world leader in mainstream climate-friendly menus and was an early Coolfood Pledge signatory.

  • The World Resources Institute shared a sneak peek of their updated 2.0 Playbook for Guiding Diners to Plant-Based Dishes in Food Service featuring a host of “no regret” menu updates to inspire food service guests to eagerly choose the most climate-friendly options. The playbook is based on extensive behavioural science showing simple ways to encourage dishes that have a lower climate impact, like serving salads on colourful plates instead of white ones. (see 2020 playbook)

  • The MAD Academy shared about its vision for a better tomorrow, stemming from its founding by restaurant noma’s owner Rene Redzepi, as a place to inspire food-based sustainable change. They are training the next generation of chefs, baristas, and bartenders to use elevated gastronomy and impeccable ingredient sourcing to pave the way to reduced emissions in the most delicious way.

The message was clear and Nourish is excited to keep building momentum in Canada: health care providers are uniquely positioned to demonstrate anchor leadership in their communities and industry, by leveraging the power of food for positive change. Simple shifts like serving less-carbon-intensive ingredients, and strategically prioritizing sustainability in procurement practices, translate into putting both patients and the planet at the centre of hospital food service.  This can lead to a thriving system that honours the land we live on, and the health of our communities. 

We will be hosting a webinar on April 4, 2024, 12 - 1 pm ET to showcase Danish food system innovation so you can hear from a municipal leader and a hospital executive chef on their work, challenges and vision for the future. Click here to register.

EOIs Due March 8, 2024

Nourish is excited to offer two research scan contracts (March - June 2024) focused on critical areas within our field - Indigenous foodways and food prescribing

 

If you have a passion for advancing health equity by integrating Indigenous foodways into health care, or if you are intrigued by the transformative potential of food as medicine through food prescribing, we want to hear from you! Both research scans will shed light on the challenges and opportunities present in these areas, supporting Nourish to continue to advance meaningful progress around food for health.

 

Expressions of Interest for both research contracts can be submitted by March 8, 2024. Please find more details below (and on our website) regarding the scope of research, application process, and timeline.