Hospital food is rarely a comfort.
The Princess Margot association, which helps children and teenagers with cancer, has launched the "crazy meals", weekly lunches prepared by chef Grégory Cohen for all patients at Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris.
They hope to be able to expand this service, which allows patients to enjoy a good meal, regain pleasure in eating, regain their morale.
And all this without blowing the budget.
“The “crazy meals” are more elaborate, they have more taste, they are on a real plate instead of the meal tray and it reminds us of home”, summarizes Léa, 21, hospitalized for the second time. at Saint-Louis Hospital (Assistance Publique-Hospitals of Paris).
Next to his bed, on the small tray, his plate sits, empty.
It must be said that this Wednesday noon was a party.
Once a week, the hospital offers all patients a "toque meal", concocted by chef Grégory Cohen, famous since the show Chéri, c'est moi le chef!
on France 2.
“You had to be a bit crazy to change the food in the hospital!
»
Why knocked?
For the chef's hat of course, but not only.
“You had to be a bit crazy to change the food in the hospital!
“, laughs Grégory Cohen.
An observation shared by all, caregivers, patients, parents… And even Farida Adlani, vice-president of the Île-de-France region, in charge of Health, who went to this service this Wednesday noon.
"We have all been hospitalized one day, for a happy event or not and we know that in the common imagination, the food is not good in the hospital", recognizes this nurse.
It's a different story when she sticks her fork into the plate concocted by chef Gregory Cohen for patients.
On the menu: hake with coconut milk and sunny vegetables.
“I am Breton and very picky about cooking fish”, warns Nicolas
Boissel, head of the adolescent and young adult hematology department (AJA), between bites.
“And I am Mediterranean, so picky about vegetables.
There, they are very spicy!, adds Farida Adlani.
Is this for all patients?
".
“Yes, we didn't cheat!
laughs Romain Duvernois, director of logistics purchasing at AP-HP Nord.
It's not just these two gourmands who enjoy themselves.
The success with patients is palpable.
"The proportion has been reversed: before, 80% of the dish was not touched, now it is 80% consumed", welcomes Grégory Cohen.
A huge boost to avoid food waste, but above all to improve the well-being of patients.
“We have found the etymological meaning of restoration: to restore one's strength, insists the chef.
Then there is the pleasure that releases endorphins.
»
“A good, well-dressed meal will help patients overcome their disgust”
Giving a little pleasure and reasons to fight back to sick children is a subject that is close to the heart of Muriel Hattab, the energetic president of the Princess Margot association, which accompanies children with cancer.
“One day, I went to see the director of the hospital to tell him that it was not terrible what we served to hospitalized children and adolescents, she says.
For them, it's a double penalty: they often stay in the hospital for a long time, they feel nauseous because of the treatments and in addition, the parents cannot bring food for hygiene reasons.
»
“A good, well-dressed meal will help patients overcome their disgust,” adds Romain Duvernois.
A major challenge for patients who risk losing muscle very quickly... and morale.
And if these well-arranged, properly heated plates require a little more time from the caregivers, the smiles and the appetite of their patients do not count for butter.
Collective work to develop six recipes adapted to the requirements
To manage to give birth to six delicious menus, but achievable with the constraints of a hospital, it was necessary to adapt.
And working hand in hand between chef, hospital dietitians, cooks, caregivers... To begin with, these three-star menus were tested in September 2018 in Nicolas Boissel's department, AJA, where young people are hospitalized. between 15 and 25 years old.
The one with the highest demands on hygiene conditions.
“The challenge was set up in a very difficult context, admits Nicolas
Boissel.
Not only are patients immunocompromised, but in addition, adolescence is a time when you can have eating disorders.
»
Expand this three-star dining offer
“The feedback was very positive, so we decided to extend the “crazy meals” to all patients at Saint-Louis Hospital in January 2020,” continues Muriel Hattab.
"And to offer festive menus for Christmas, the New Year, but also "crazy meals" for caregivers during the first wave of Covid-19, which was particularly difficult", adds Romain Duvernois.
Above all, the specifications required that the budget not explode.
“The average cost of the usual dish is around 1.30 euros, for a dish of this special meal it is 1.50 euros,” he insists.
A quasi-equivalence which makes it possible to make the event weekly.
And which gives hope that other hospitals will take up the initiative again… This is indeed the objective of the Princess Margot association: to extend the “crazy meals” to other hospitals, to make them more regular and more organic.
"All hospitals have a day in the year with a chef's meal, for us, it's every Thursday," boasts Romain Duvernois.
From the start, we designed it so that it would last and so that other hospitals could adopt the same approach.
We don't own anything!
".
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