Hospital food is not generally synonymous with delicious. In fact, hospitals in my city are known for bland, paste-colored jelly moulds which smell distinctly like nothing.

But there is a new trend in hospital food and it's fresh, healthy, and tasty.

Good Shepherd Hospital in Portland Oregon offers food cooked from scratch, with menus featuring wild salmon and local organic produce. It's one of the many hospitals across the nation offering food that's healthier for patients, workers, and the environment.

It seems to be common sense, and a Portland medical food manager concurs: "The purer and cleaner the food is, the better the ability of that food to improve the health of people."

The trend is currently more prevalent in the West, where produce is more abundant. It would be nice to see this trend spreading wildly throughout North America.