A friend of mine went to a sanatorium. An ordinary sanatorium in Central Russia, recommended to him as good. He arrives and writes in desperation: I’m dying between pasta and gravy for breakfast! And the radio “Chanson” throughout the region ….
It is clear that there is a connection between radio “Chanson” and sauce.
I remembered my experience of organizing a creative residence – artists, artists, writers gathered in one friendly, but completely ordinary hostel. We went out for breakfast – they sincerely brought pasta with ribs, “cask coffee” and white bread with butter. They are horrified – among them vegetarians, heart patients, allergies, someone on a gluten-free diet, someone who eats protein … They apparently have nowhere to eat except in the dining room. There are no shops and restaurants in the local forests. We went to the director, wanted to fix the problem with the dining room, and with great difficulty persuaded him to serve boiled eggs and cereal for breakfast. Because in the usual mode it is customary for them to have their breakfast “chopped crazy” or “pig bigus”.
The menu of sanatoriums was approved in Soviet times and has remained in the usual assortment since then, but as practice shows, most citizens are quite satisfied with this type of food, eat it and give thanks.
What are your requirements for breakfast? The perfect breakfast for me is freshly squeezed orange juice, or at least the orange itself or another seasonal fruit. Cottage cheese. Coffee with milk. I watch the distribution of healthy meals that are currently in fashion: everything looks beautiful – curd pie with kiwi and blueberries or a sandwich with lightly salted salmon and fresh cucumbers … It is clear that in an ordinary sanatorium where citizens socialize programs, you can not get enough salmon.
But if you follow nutritionists, what’s the right way to start your day?
It turns out that it is no coincidence that we want porridge or fruit for breakfast – the level of glucose in the body drops during the night, which the brain needs. But if we are not going to be physically challenged right away, then it is better not to please ourselves with carbohydrates, but to eat a little protein and fats, namely cheese, butter, eggs, best of course, caviar and fish. But it can also be meat. This is exactly what the sanatorium nutritional standards offer us, taking into account the budget and possibilities of the kitchen.
Here is the ideal menu for the sanatorium.
Four-course breakfast for those with cardiovascular disease: “Beet-carrot salad. Butter. 1. Meat schnitzel with mashed potatoes. 2. Crazy cabbage stuffed with cheese. 3. Coffee.
Well, if you are completely healthy, then choose for yourself. “Snacks: vegetable salad, sardines, sour cream, boiled separate sausage. 1st course: Minced fried spree, ham omelet, boiled sausage, steamed meat spree, protein omelet stuffed with minced meat. 2nd meal. Schnitzel sprouts. Buckwheat porridge with milk. Flour pies with sour cream. Green peas in milk sauce. 3. meal. sweetened tea”. It turns out that cheap proteins (crazy or liver) replace expensive salmon and avocados on a budget.
Where did this spa cuisine come from? As it turned out, the principles of dietary nutrition were developed by the Soviet scientist Manuel Pevzner in the 20s of the twentieth century, and since then these valuable 15 treatment tables are still considered the basis of medical institutions. At the same time, the peculiarities of nutrition with the lack of certain types of food in the early Soviet period are not taken into account. At a time when rye bread, peas and herring were the staples of the daily diet, Pevzner offered light, low-salt, unfried, diced and unseasoned foods. People in sanatoriums were fattened to gain weight. But then they did not even dream of fruits, vegetables, berries, greens, whole grain bread, fish, seafood, nuts.
Today, people want variety and interesting flavors, not high-calorie foods.
Therefore, in recent years, kiosks have been introduced in institutions of a higher price category. But buffet organization is a great art, and it’s only useful with a fairly large and fixed number of eaters, otherwise its organization becomes unprofitable, the assortment becomes scarce, the amount of food decreases, and holidaymakers begin to complain. Here are the actual testimonials: “It was disgusting to watch everyone rush into the hall with the food and start pushing and placing the full plates. I decided for myself not to go to a sanatorium with a buffet anymore. It seems to me that ordinary food is much more pleasant and calming”; “The ladies served it with plates of cherries, which they later took to the beach, but our children did not have enough fruit”; “Second shift got nothing but pasta.”
But with a bespoke menu, everything is not so simple, because you need to order well in advance, three days in advance or even at four on weekends, and all this time you do not have to look for the truth. you get the standard meal. Which? The most versatile. One of the vacationers recalls: “As someone who is used to eating yogurt, scrambled eggs or porridge for breakfast, after five days of torment, at best, when I put pasta and two sausages in front of me or a terrible stare. and the taste of “omelet”, and the worst – fish cutlet “Morskoy”, I began to bring a sack of oatmeal with me for breakfast.
In the canteens of the sanatorium, omelettes are still served on large baking trays cut into squares, and I wondered why it was made and why it was completely different at home. It turns out that the omelet for the table is not prepared from natural eggs, but from melange (a mixture of yolk and protein) and even egg powder, so calls to replace omelets with boiled or scrambled eggs are not met with understanding among employees. .
After studying many reviews of vacationers, I came to the conclusion that they fall into two main categories. A group of complainants want more varied or more plentiful food, but at the same time – better service, more comfortable living, additional services. But there are others – those who complain, sincerely believing that a breakfast of “fish cakes, rice porridge, butter and milk and mashed potatoes” is ideal, and that you should definitely not separate the government maggots. “The portions are small. Some are said to complain that they don’t have enough. I personally have enough. Maybe adding fiber would be nice, but for the rest it’ll work. You can have bread.” You will not understand whether these are people who are always happy with everything or just live modestly, therefore not demanding: “The first courses are all successful. Burrito, pancakes, scrambled eggs – just super. Kefir in the glass in the evening is also delicious. If the food is a little cold, there is a microwave, you can heat it up, I didn’t notice. On the eighth of March they delivered a cake, a packet of biscuits every day, and some fruit.
It’s no secret that most of our compatriots come to sanatoriums with social coupons, that is, for free or at a discount. To my surprise, the social insurance, which buys these vouchers in bulk from sanatoriums, pays half the price, which means that the sanatorium will not reimburse its services if it does not reduce its costs. The calculation starts with the meal and ends with the salary fund. Therefore, when choosing a sanatorium, pay attention to whether there are vacationers in social coupons, as a rule, the menu will not be redone for you, even if you buy yourself a vacation at full price.
And those who have received a free trip to a sanatorium will not complain, even if they are dissatisfied, on the contrary, they sympathize not only with meatballs with gravy, but also with broken tanks in the toilet, rows of procedures. a maid who vacuums the room when it suits her, short sheets and small towels. Because it’s free.
People accustomed to paying for service want the best value for their money, they scandalize, demand, or even sue. Poverty is tame. The poor man is dependent, humble and ready to be content with little. And what can it compare to? He doesn’t have luxury at home either. However, I seem to have strayed too far from the breakfast issue.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.