What Hospital Food Looks Like In 13 Countries

Most people don't enjoy staying in the hospital, and understandably so. You're likely dealing with health issues, it's uncomfortable and noisy, and, of course, the food is usually subpar. Hospital food in America can vary, but usually isn't very exciting. You're likely to find scrambled eggs or oatmeal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and pasta or meatloaf for dinner, depending on the hospital. Similarly, the foods you'll find in hospitals around the world usually reflect the country and culture, although one thing remains consistent: it's generally not considered very good.

Hospital foods tend to reflect the types of things the local population usually eats. You're probably not going to be served tacos in Japanese hospitals or sushi in Brazilian hospitals, but some hospital foods around the world may surprise you. Below, we've explored what hospital food looks like in several different countries around the world. Note that menus vary between facilities and may be altered for patients with dietary restrictions.

China is home to over one billion people, yet many people think of the same core dishes when they think of Chinese food. Traditional Chinese food includes dumplings, noodles, wontons, and spring rolls, as well as dishes like kung pao chicken, sweet and sour pork, chow mein, and Peking roast duck. While these dishes are common in China, they're also favorites in America and other Western nations.

Often these foods can be found in Chinese hospitals, although it strongly depends on the hospital you're in. Thanks to medical tourism, hospitals in large cities like Bangkok are often much fancier and offer a higher-end menu, while some rural hospitals don't offer food to patients at all. For hospitals that do offer food, menus can vary based on what part of the country you're in.

On the r/hosptialfood subreddit, one user posted their simple breakfast, which included a pancake, pork bun, and soy milk. Another posted a full day's worth of meals, providing photos of a lunch that included rice, cabbage and onion soup, and pork sausage, and a dinner with rice, tofu cubes, vegetables, and white fish. Their breakfast also included a steamed bun, as well as a boiled egg, broccoli, and sweet potato. That tracks — as one commenter pointed out, "In Chinese cuisine, there isn't as much of a distinction between breakfast and other foods as in Western cuisine."

France is known for its art and history, but also its cuisine, which tends to be a bit different than typical American fare. Traditional French dishes include boef bourguignon (beef stew), bouillabaisse (seafood and tomato soup), cassoulet (bean ragout), confit de canard (poached duck), and ratatouille (vegetable casserole or stew). A traditional French breakfast may include crepes, omelets, or a quiche lorraine, and of course, you can't forget the sweet treats like crème brulée and profiteroles.

You won't see all these dishes in the hospital, however. Experiences tend to vary, with some hospitals offering full three-course meals that usually include soup as a starter and some type of roasted meat as the main dish, while others offer more simplified meals. One user posted their meal to the r/hospital food subreddit, showing eggs, pasta, and bread for dinner. Breakfast is often very simple, with that same user's showing a breakfast of bread, butter, yogurt, and tea, and another user showing just bread, butter, jam, and black coffee, far cries from the usually sweet and filling French breakfast.

Indonesia is a country made up of thousands of islands in southeast Asia and Oceania, and its unique geography contributes to the country's diverse cuisine. Meals often include typical Asian ingredients like noodles, rice, and tofu, as well as tropical ingredients like coconut and shrimp. Popular dishes in Indonesia include soto ayam (Indonesian chicken noodle soup), gado-gado (steamed vegetable salad), beef rendang, and burbur (porridge made from rice flour, coconut milk, and palm sugar).

This flavorful variety of food makes its way into Indonesian hospitals as well. In the r/hospitalfood subreddit, one user posted their hospital breakfast, a tray made of burbur, chicken, and egg;  another user posted a variety of meals, including a breakfast composed of open zuppa soup and guava juice, and for lunch had orange chicken, fresh melon, and tofu. Another user's lunch included fresh melon, corn and sausage soup, curry, and tofu one day and tofu, fish, rice, vegetable soup, and banana. The former user's dinner included curry, cauliflower, tofu, rice, and a banana, while the latter had tofu, shrimp, breaded chicken, rice, and watermelon; one commenter said, "I think this is the best hospital food I've ever seen."

Italy is famous for a lot of things: history, art, and architecture, to name a few, but it's possibly most famous for its food. While a lot of what we think of as Italian food isn't actually Italian at all, many traditional Italian dishes are still eaten around the world. Traditional Italian foods include pizza and pasta, although they look a bit different than what we usually see in the U.S.. It also includes sarancini (fried rice balls), ossobusco (slow cooked veal), and risotto (creamy rice).

Despite Italy's reputation for food, the options served in the country's hospitals tend to be lackluster. In the r/hospitalfood subreddit, one user posted their Italian hospital lunch consisting of boiled chicken and carrots, pastina and broth, apple puree, and a biscuit, leading one commenter to say, "Italy has too much quality food to serve this to sick people." Another Redditor seemed to have better luck with his Italian hospital lunch, which included pesto pasta, hamburger, mashed potatoes, steamed greens, fresh tomatoes, and a pear. Unfortunately, their experience doesn't seem to be the norm, as Italians seem to be aware that their hospital food is lacking.

Situated in northwestern Europe, the Netherlands is known for picturesque scenery, tulips, and windmills, and not usually for its food. A typical breakfast in the Netherlands is usually bread topped with something like cheese, jam, peanut butter, and even chocolate sprinkles, but breakfast may also include yogurt or muesli, a grain similar to oatmeal. Other traditional Dutch foods include raw herring, stamppot (a mashed potato dish), kapsalon (a dish similar to poutine), and rijsttafel (an elaborate Dutch-Indonesian meal with a rice base).

The types of foods you might see at a Dutch hospital can vary from location to location. Hospital breakfast is usually pretty simple: bread with your choice of toppings. One user in the r/hospitalfood subreddit posted a slightly different hospital breakfast of muesli, yogurt, and a banana — still very standard for a Dutch breakfast. Lunch and dinner are where you'll find a lot more variation; a Redditor posted their lunch of egg salad, chicken filet, cheese, minestrone soup, beef salad, and rolls, while the dinner they posted was baby potatoes, cauliflower, "blind finches" (beef rolls), and creamed spinach. Another dinner featured macaroni with beef and tomato sauce. That user even added a comment saying, "For hospital food it wasn't bad at all!"

If you've ever visited the restaurant of an Ikea, you probably have some idea of what Swedish food entails. But while Swedish meatballs are delicious, there are plenty more iconic Swedish foods you should try. These include lingonberry jam, pickled herring, knäckebröd (crisp bread), ärtsoppa och pannkakor (pea soup and pancakes), räksmörgås (shrimp sandwich), and the iconic green prinsesstårta (princess cake).

Breakfast in Swedish hospitals is usually pretty simple. One Reddit user posted a maternity breakfast to the r/hospitalfood subreddit that included open-faced sandwiches with cheese, tomato, and cucumbers, as well as a glass of orange juice, a hot cocoa, and even a small bouquet. Another Redditor also posted their breakfast of toasted bread, ham, and boiled eggs, which they rated 10/10 even without a bouquet; their dinner consisted of a minced beef pie with a salad and green beans. Not everything is roses, though — one user found their hospital dinner to be a little lackluster, rating their dinner of folukorv (sausage) stroganoff at a 6/10.