Friday, October 14, 2011
More Maryland hospital chefs are going the organic root
Cooks learn how to focus on local, sustainably grown food at university program
by Kevin James Shay, Staff Writer
After decades of hearing trash talk about their food, hospitals in recent years have worked to shed those negative stereotypes by offering tastier and more healthful alternatives to patients and visitors. And many in Maryland are going further, by using local, sustainably grown food.
Mercy Medical Center, for instance, buys organic produce and other food from local farms, said James Gray, an executive chef at the Baltimore hospital who was among those participating in a training session Oct. 14 at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville on cooking with local, sustainably grown food.
“The food at Mercy has changed a lot in the last 10 years,” Gray said. “We no longer buy much canned food. Most of our food is fresh.”
That is music to the ears of Susan B. Callahan, an instructor in hotel and restaurant management with the University of Maryland Eastern Shore at the Universities at Shady Grove. Using more locally produced food is a trend in the industry, she said.
