VICTORIA – Grilled chicken thigh, roast turkey, and sweet chicken curry; these are just a few of the choices patients will soon be able to order when they check into Victoria General and Royal Jubilee Hospital. “One of the biggest criticisms we have in the acute hospitals is the way we deliver our food service,” says Howard Waldner, CEO of the Vancouver Island Health Authority “Often the food is cold, maybe not what they want, and patients, and it may not be what patients are really needing to help them speed their recovery. To change that the Vancouver Island Health Authority searched across Canada and found a new system, called “Steamplicity” Patients will soon be able to pick what they want to eat one to two hours before dining from 20 options. The food is then prepared on site and transferred to the patient care unit, where it is pressure cooked using a microwave. The President and CEO of Compass Group Canada Health Care says the system retains as much nutrients as possible. “It provides good quality product,” says Sharon McDonald “The texture of the food is very good and the quality and the taste are superb”. Reporters were invited to try the new meals today and the early reviews are good The cost of the new food for the two Victoria hospitals is .5 million over five years. That’s nearly million than the current contract. Follow Stephen Andrew on Twitter – www.twitter.com