As you may have seen in my last post, I recently (and unexpectedly) spent two weeks in hospital with with cholecystitis (inflamed gallbladder), gallstones and ended up having surgery to get it removed.
For the first few days I was given an IV and put on a fast – I wasn’t too fussed because I’d had no appetite for days already and been unable to keep anything down anyway.
Days 4 and 5 I could only have this high calorie protein drink three times a day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It had a sort of yoghurty-texture and a sweet apple flavour. Not too bad, but after a few days I was sick of the sight of it.
Six days in, I was allowed to have actual food. Some days were definitely better than others, but I ended up taking photos and logging what I ate because frankly there wasn’t much else to do.
Nearly every meal came with some sort of rice and green tea. While I couldn’t get enough of the tea (I’m British after all!), I quickly tired of eating rice three times a day.
In fact they sent a nutritionist round one day as they were so concerned I wasn’t eating much of my rice…of course in Japan you are expected to clear your bowl. But once I explained I’m not used to eating rice so often, they understood.
Rice porridge, fish, carrots and onions, tomato jelly, yoghurt drink, green tea:
Rice, chicken meatballs, braised spinach, apple, green tea:
Rice, teriyaki fish, cabbage and tomato salad, spinach, orange, green tea:
Rice porridge, prawn dumplings, sweet potato, meat and vegetables, mixed tinned fruit, green tea:
Rice with furikake, miso soup, Japanese fish cake, egg salad, yoghurt drink, green tea:
Rice, silken tofu, pumpkin, brocolli, carrot, pickles, green tea. (One of my least favourites because it was all the same soft, claggy texture.)
Rice, miso soup, salmon, ham salad, green tea, milk (I forgot to tell the staff I can’t drink milk beforehand):
Rice, white fish, green beans, steamed sweet potato, aubergine, kiwi fruit, green tea:
Rice, fish, cabbage, mikan orange, pickles, green tea:
Vegetable curry and rice, salad, pickles, green tea. (This was luuuuush!!)
Rice and furikaki, pork, broccoli, daikon, green tea:
Oyakodon (egg, chicken and scallions on rice – loosely translates as “mother and child”), miso soup, pickles, apple slices, green tea:
Rice and furikake, fish, mixed vegetables, pickles, green tea:
Bread, margarine and peach jam, scrambled eggs, tuna salad, Yakult, green tea:(This was my last breakfast and it was SO good not to have rice for once!)
Know that I still haven’t touched rice since I came out of hospital.
While there were some hits and misses, it’s definitely healthier than the fare masquerading as food in UK hospitals. I remember when I had my kidney operation as a teenager I refused to touch the hospital food and instead survived on saltines and Lucozade for a week.
Unlike the UK, Japanese hospitals aren’t free (even with health insurance) but the meal plan wasn’t too bad at ¥700 per day (around £4.50 or $6.00USD).
~ Carla
The Geordie Gaijin 