PP036 - CO-COOKING AS COPRODUCTION: CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE HOSPITAL MENU CODESIGN

PP036

CO-COOKING AS COPRODUCTION: CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE HOSPITAL MENU CODESIGN

V. Carter^1,*, V. Barrington¹, D. Hitch²

¹Nutrition, Western Health, St Albans, ²School of Health and Social Development , Deakin University, Geelong, Australia

 

Rationale: Hospital menus in Australia predominantly reflect an Anglo-European palate. Previous research of 16,919 New South Wales patients found non-English-speaking background patients had 10-fold higher odds of care dissatisfaction associated with hospital food¹.

Methods: An experience-based co-design (EBCD) study at a 1,000-bed metropolitan health service, recruited recent culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) inpatients or carers across four cultural groups: Asian, Mediterranean, Arabic, and Indian. Sequential co-design included focus groups, a cultural cafe visit, consumer-led co-cooking session and final taste-testing event. Focus group feedback was transcribed and analysed thematically. 

Results: Themes central to patients comfort and recovery emerged. Co-cooking produced an authentic congee recipe for large-scale production. Post-implementation cultural dish satisfaction surveys showed positive meal acceptability ratings. A cultural recipe bank was established providing resources for ongoing menu development. 

Table 1. Co-design phases and participant engagement 

Phase	Participants	Method	Output
Focus Groups	n=28 CALD patients/carers	Semi-structured (60 min)	Themes: authenticity, gratitude, accessibility, and comfort
Co-Cooking Session	n=4 consumers, n=6 staff	Consumer-led kitchen session	Authentic congee recipe to be scaled

Conclusion: EBCD co-cooking is a feasible and effective method for developing culturally authentic hospital meals, shifting consumers from passive recipients to active design partners, improving meal acceptability for CALD patients and offering a scalable blueprint for culturally responsive food service reform in tertiary hospitals.

References: 1.Dai Z, Bich NH. Tran, Watson DE, Edwin CK. Tan. The association between patient-reported experiences with hospital food services and recovery outcomes – a population survey of patients from 75 public hospitals. Clinical Nutrition ESPEN. 2024 Aug 1;63.

 

 

 

Disclosure of Interest: None declared