March 2, 2015 — Instead of frozen fish sticks, patients and staff are served picked crab, haddock, redfish, monkfish and even shark that the hospital buys weekly from Port Clyde Fresh Catch.
Michael Pelillo, the chef at Pen Bay Medical Center, has heard all of the stale jokes about bad hospital food. He spent most of his 45-year culinary career working in hospitals and rehab centers, and he has seen everything – the lime gelatin, the mystery meat, the mixed vegetables that look as if they were harvested during the Eisenhower presidency.
“I’ve seen things that would scare people,” he joked.
Now Pelillo is working at a hospital that has, at least for the past few years, dedicated itself to serving as much local food as possible. Instead of frozen fish sticks, patients and staff are served picked crab, haddock, redfish, monkfish and even shark that the hospital buys weekly from Port Clyde Fresh Catch.
In the summer and fall, the hospital buys produce from Hatchet Cove Farm, an organic farm in Warren, and advertises that fact to patients. Pelillo estimates the hospital spends 15 percent of its food budget on local foods. “We were looking at bringing in food for the patients, giving them a nice quality product, plus we also wanted to support the local vendors,” Pelillo said. “There’s an opportunity right here in front of us, so why not use it?”
Pen Bay is one of at least 10 Maine hospitals trying to purchase ingredients from Maine farms and fishermen. These hospitals are part of a national movement aimed at improving sustainability, nutrition and community engagement by changing the way hospitals and other institutions source their food. They are following in the footsteps of schools and universities, many of which have already embraced local foods.
Read the full story from the Portland Press Herald