When it comes to finding recipes for delicious plant-forward meals, your first thought probably isn’t to look to what chefs in hospitals are cooking….but it should be! Hospitals chefs (many of which come from top restaurants!) are on the forefront of the plant-based trend because the health and environmental benefits are so important. One of the nation’s largest healthcare food service providers, Morrison Healthcare, just announced a totally revamped patient menu with over 300 entrees, one-third of which will be plant-based.
Keep reading to learn more about how Morrison Healthcare’s Culinary Innovation team leads the charge for sustainability, promoting the use of plant-forward ingredients and recommending local and seasonal produce whenever possible.
What does this mean for our people and the planet?
Our patient menus always offer plant-based entrée choices daily. Almost every café concept featured in our hospitals offers a plant-based or plant-forward entrée and ingredients. For hospitals looking to go further with plant-foods by design or to support their health or sustainability goals, we’ve created Plant-Powered pop-up stations.
How do these concepts translate into food waste reduction?
Our “Power Brands,” are concepts with a single plant ingredient and a simplified menu. The plants featured in these dishes are healthy and engineered to have little-to-no food waste by using the stalks, leaves, stems, and skins of each vegetable in the recipe.
How do these meals appeal to the preferences of our patients?
Our plant-centric brands are delicious and on trend – are café concepts include: Beet Root, Carrot Greens, All Caps (mushrooms), Silver Kings (corn) and On the Vine (tomatoes), plus Harvest, a fully vegetarian/vegan concept and Honest Bowl – full of responsibly sourced ingredients including plant-based proteins and plant-protein alternatives.
How do these efforts translate into quantifiable impact?
- 60% of Morrison Healthcare’s entire recipe database consists of plant-forward recipes, with 1/3 of those recipes being vegan.
- 53% of recipes evaluated for carbon are classified as low carbon emissions; our plant-heavy recipes are friendly for the climate.
- Carbon impact of each recipe can be measured through our nutrition software.
What are some of your most popular plant forward recipes?
Moroccan Harira Stew…Garden Avocado toast…Rigatoni with Mushroom Ragu…Sesame Ginger Noodle Bowl just to name a few!
