Gourmet Hospital Food?

The beige-colored turkey. The congealed gravy. Not to mention the green Jell-O. Hospital food has a reputation for being one step up from cardboard on the culinary scale. But one hospital is supporting the local economy — and feeding patients better meals along the way.

In an effort to help the 200 local farmers in Eau Claire, Wis., the city’s Sacred Heart Hospital has launched a Buy Local program, which includes building a grocery co-op to introduce new customers to the area’s farmers and allocating of 10 percent or $200,000 of the hospital's food budget to sourcing items from local growers. So far, the hospital has purchased more than 26,000 pounds of locally grown product like beef, pork, chicken, cheese, bread, fruits and vegetables, which they are using to inject some color into an otherwise beige meal palette (pictured below).

"Partnering with them allows us to support local farms and conserve energy by reducing fuel necessary for transporting food supplies from greater distances,” said Steve Ronstrom, president of the hospital's western division.

Here's to patients seeing some green in their meals and to farmers seeing a little more in their pockets.