Hospital promos use of local food—with a barbecue

July 25—Bison burgers with blueberry barbeque sauce and local potato and garlic soup – all sourced from Ontario – were on the menu at a barbecue to promote Health Sciences North's latest initiative to serve more local food.

The hospital's retail food service, Marek Hospitality, organized the lunchtime event to promote its recent strides in using local ingredients.

"There's not enough awareness out there,” said Stewart Brown, the hospital's director of retail food services. “People don't understand how many items you can source locally.”

In the last month, Marek Hospitality has increased its local food content from 30 per cent to 40 per cent at the hospital's Rock Garden Café.