Hospital food improves with recipes from home

May 17— Hoag Hospital Irvine's cafeteria features a decidedly unhospital-like menu of gourmet internationally inspired dishes.

The idea to diversify the menu came from Indonesian-born Executive Sous Chef Kasan Soewono. In his effort to transform the cafeteria into a dining destination, he asked employees to provide recipes for their favorite homemade dishes. He also invented a few of his own. The experiment started a few months ago, when operating-room nurse Zary Kayhan-Mahd offered her grandmother's recipe for the Persian stew, Beef Mushroom Khoresh.