Thursday, February 2, 2012

Hospital Food in Japan--a glimpse

    I am obsessed with food, as are most of the people in my immediate family. Take that food obsession and add in a pregnancy and a year in a foreign country and you get an even more food-obsessed person. A person who was not able to indulge in ANY of her cravings while pregnant--cranberry juice, Cafe Rio, salmon burgers with sweet potatoes, chocolate soymilk, etc. etc. Whaaa... So, I held no high hopes for hospital food here, especially after my previous hospital experiences.

    After laboring all night with Cash, I was presented with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread. Wow. With Cosette, we requested a vegetarian menu, so lunch was an entire plate of only: french fries. Just french fries. "Where is the protein? She is bleeding!!" Fox demanded of the head dietician. "Sorry about that, she'll have protein for dinner," he said. Dinner was a green salad with a side of protein: a small cup of slivered almonds.

        After that, I swore I would have all my babies at home just so that I could have hot lentil soup afterwards. You can imagine my suprise when every single one of my hospital meals here in Japan was not only beautiful but super yummy and nutritious (except of course for white bread and rice)! A nurse came in and told me, "You are nursing and recovering, so everything we are giving you has iron and calcium in it." Yes, thank you, finally!! Granted, I still couldn't recognize all of it, but I ate 90% of it, which was awesome.  Here's a glimpse:


Breakfast: salad with grapefruit and boiled eggs, fish with tomatoes, vegetable soup

Lunch: Salad, rolls, tomato soup, honeydew, apricot mousse, fish w/ zucchini stir-fry.  Zucchini and honeydew are very rare here!

Okay, this one I didn't eat much of, but it was presented in a beautiful layered bento. Orange, clear soup, sashimi, shrimp with okra and kabocha, tempura, and a veggie broth of some sort.

Another breakfast: salad, omelette, clam chowder, and mango pudding. The drink on the top is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine that I had with every meal to contract my uterus.  It tasted like echinacea.

   Also, every day at 3 p.m. was tea--the first day, they brought in a dish of vanilla ice cream with fresh peaches. The next day was another apricot mousse. So yummy! With dinner, they also provided a carton of juice and a pastry for a later snack.  It was so fun to actually look forward to my hospital meals and see how beautifully they were presented. I don't think I've ever eaten as many vegetables in such a short period of time.

  The hospital also provided a free facial on one of the days. A nurse watched the baby, while I went down to the "esthe" room for 30 minutes of hot steam and a face massage. Also, each day the hospital would bring a new-mother present: a new nursing pillow, large towels, a bound baby book. It was awesome. Good job, Inoshita Hospital! You are tops in my book :)

5 comments:

Unknown said...

That is awesome! Usa needs to learn some tips from that hospital!!

Ryan and Heather Bartron said...

When I saw that this post is about hospital food I got worried. When Nathan was born, they wouldn't let me eat all day (they even gave my a hard time about sucking on lifesavers) and at the end of the day gave me a soggy turkey sandwich on white bread. I keep telling Ryan that's one of the reasons I'm not having this baby in a hospital. I'm so glad you had a much better experience. Every new mother should get that kind of treatment!

Mrs Abbott said...

Amazing. There's something about good food after you give birth! Orem community was nice- I still remember the French Toast right after Asher!

Douglas Smith said...

That's great! I'd love some of THAT hospital food. Looks delicious. :-)
When I was in the hospital the last time, Sheelah always brought in take out from local restaurants. I just cant eat the stuff they serve, at all!

Jasmyn said...

Hey Amy! My mom sent me this blog post and I loved it! I love how well they take care of their new mamas and I loved your birth story too (I just love birth stories). :)

Thanks for sharing!

Jasmyn (formerly Bradley)