There was a time — perhaps as recently as the beginning of this century — when hospital food was a frequent butt of jokes. Not just the stuff being served to the patients mind you, but cafeteria fare that was so bad that people would wax nostalgic for high school lunches. I'll say one thing for the high cost of healthcare — many hospitals have been pumping some of that revenue into their cafeteria menus.
That all began to change at some point in the last 15 years. Hospitals decided to take advantage of their semi-captive audiences and offer more expensive options to visitors and staff. I've visited hospitals that essentially had very high-end food courts, teeming with variety. I had never happened upon hospital sushi until this week, however.
Over the years, I've often posted pictures of, and snarky comments about, sushi that I've seen being sold in "out of context" ways. I believe the the most notable of these was in Penn Station in New York. Train station sushi seemed highly suspect to me, lo those many years ago. Then again, I always feel like I need a Silkwood shower if I spend more than 20 minutes in Penn Station. Medical experts insist that it's impossible, but Penn Station feels like the kind place where one might contract an STD without any of the "S" involved.
Fast forward to the Year of Our Lord 2025, when I'm spending some quality time with my best friend who is hospitalized (it's been rocky, but he's much better, thank you) at one of the larger hospitals here in my native fishing village of Tucson, Arizona. My dad was in this hospital for a month in 2014 and my sister and I were both pleasantly surprised at how not bad the food was. There's a whole new building and cafeteria here now, and the first thing I saw when I went to get lunch last weekend was a rather large case full of sushi.
Yeah, that went on Instagram right away. I bragged that I was avoiding it. I Instagram snarked too soon.
It turns out that a slight bout of fatigue and repeated visual exposure to the hospital sushi can wear down my snobbish sensibilities. Earlier this evening I found myself staring at the hospital sushi again. Two people walked up and grabbed some while I lingered. It was time to take the plunge. My thinking was, "If it all goes wrong, what the hell, I'm already in a hospital."
Not the greatest rationale, but it worked in this instance. The salmon roll was delicious and I'm still feeling fine three hours later.
Bold choices are the best choices. The cafeteria is open until midnight and I've still got unused packets of low-sodium (health first!) soy sauce here.
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