It isn’t exactly news that American hospital food is, more often than not, horrific. Some of my worst gastronomical memories revolve around what I consumed on hospital beds: platters of greyish sludge; a dish I was told was lasagna pulverized into gelatinous matter; barely edible pudding jiggling on a tray.
So consider, for a moment, what hospital food looks like in Japan. Last week, new mother Lauren Goeku shared 12 photographs of the food she was served in a Japanese maternity ward on Imgur, where she goes by the username Hahahah1111111; she also cross-posted them to Reddit, where she’s known as hadababyinjp. Through these photographs, Goeku paints quite a picture of life in a Japanese maternity ward. Her stay, completely covered for her by Japan’s national insurance, included some bountiful and frankly very delicious-looking feasts.
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I mean, behold: Salmon topped with mushroom sauce. Soba noodles. Seaweed salad. Eggplant. Beef. Hijiki salad. Mushroom pasta. Daikon carrot salad. Fried fish with tartar sauce. Camembert and raisins. Tiramisu. All arranged with care. Jesus.
“All the calories were posted every day so we could see how much we were eating,” Goeku wrote of her stay. “All three meals always added up to between 2,000 [and] 2,500 calories, plus they gave us a small afternoon snack like a cream puff or small piece of cake and tea.”
READ MORE: Why Reinventing Hospital Food Isn’t as Easy as It Sounds
Well, I certainly haven’t experienced anything like this in any stateside hospitals. To borrow a turn of phrase from orangutanparade, I guess it’s time to get pregnant in Japan.
