Freshly prepared kangaroo debuts on hospital menu

Fiona Stanley Hospital Sous Chef Genaveve Palmer, patient Natalie Peters and Food Service Senior Dietitian Bianca Guthrie

Patient catering and dietetics at Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) have launched a freshly prepared bush tucker option on the patient à la carte menu.

As part of the My Choice menu review, it was identified that bush tucker meals were not readily accessible or visible on the menu for patients as they were only available on request to a dietitian or Aboriginal Health Liaison Officer.

FSH Production Kitchen Manager David Dymond said the meals were previously sourced from an external provider.

“The team has now developed a fresh kangaroo recipe that will be included as a permanent fixture on the menu,” David said.

“This is very exciting as we are the first public hospital in WA to prepare a kangaroo dish on site and have it available for everyone to access.”

Taking on patient and staff feedback, chefs created a selection of recipes that were tested by an Aboriginal consumer group.

Coordinator Aboriginal Health Liaison Ron Gidgup said it was really pleasing to see an equitable and accessible menu for all.

“The results from the taste testing were overwhelmingly positive with a consumer commenting that one of the recipes reminded her of a family dish,” Ron said.

The kangaroo is slow cooked over 12 hours and prepared with familiar ingredients like native pepper and root vegetables to create a dish that is traditional but contemporary.

“This is something we have wanted to do for a long time and the new menu style gave us the opportunity to put it into action with our creative chefs doing a fantastic job recognising that we have many different tastes and cultures to cater for,” FSH Head of Department for Dietetics Jane Porter said.

“Not only are we providing patients with a better quality and tastier product, we also have the ability to modify aspects of the dish which includes tailoring the texture or serving size to suit patients who have different dietary requirements,” she said. 

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