Thank you, Vancouver Coastal, for more healthy hospital food.

Changing food habits is hard.  For hospitals, shifting meal service toward more lentils and less beef cannot be accomplished overnight.  But Vancouver Coastal Health and the city's main hospital are committed to it.  With leadership from young physician Dr. Annie Lalande, they've introduced more plant-based meals and are doing the hard work of figuring out how to make it work logistically and for patient well-being and satisfaction.

One of the many challenges is that anyone seeking to improve a food system gets criticised. 

Example:  A Vancouver Sun article got a handful of comments ridiculing the program and its ideas!  (Here's the URL: https://vancouversun.com/news/vancouver-general-hospital-tests-out-plant-based-food-for-patients)

Unbelieveable but true.  So I added a positive comment. Short but supportive.  Then someone else did, too. You can do the same.

One of my favourite analyses of social change is the Movement Action Plan (MAP) model, which reminds us to expect pushback.  Whether you're promoting kindness rather than mean-ness, or healthy food rather than unhealthy, you'll make some people mad.  No matter how much evidence and even common sense is on your side, nay-sayers and status-quoers will hurl insults.  The MAP model reminds me to be chill and realize that, eventually, good will often prevail. .  

I'll attach a brief and inspiring video clip featuring Dr. Annie Lalande and introducing some of Vancouver Coastal's ideas for less food waste and overall better food systems in hospitals.  I think you'll enjoy it.