Hospital foodservice and ethnic foods: a survey of hospitals in two counties of Northern California

The purpose of this project was to evaluate whether the foods served in the hospitals of two counties in Northern California reflected the ethnicities of the patient population each hospital serves. Only the two largest ethnic minority groups, Hispanic and Asian groups, were assessed. Information on the ethnicity of a hospital's patient clientele was provided by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. Dietitians were contacted and menus for regular diets were collected. For each hospital, breakfast, lunch and dinner entrees offered over one menu cycle were counted, and a proportion of all entrees that were Hispanic and Asian was determined. This proportion was compared to the proportion of hospital days accounted for by Hispanic and Asian patients, using the chi square test for differences between two independent proportions (p 0.01). Out of the 22 hospitals in the two counties surveyed, 18 dietitians were interviewed. Nine of the 14 hospitals from which menus were obtained showed the proportion of Hispanic entrees to be significantly lower than the corresponding proportion of hospital days for Hispanics. The proportion of Asian entrees was significantly different from the corresponding proportion of hospital days for Asians in three of the 14 hospitals. Eleven of the hospitals contacted offered rice and/or tortillas at almost every meal at the patient's request. One way a hospital may enhance its service is by planning menus with consideration for the cultural background and food habits of its parents