The lack of veggies

When I first moved to a nursing home 21 years ago, they served the largest meal in the middle of the day. Back then, I did not like that much. But since I ate that way for several years, I eventually got used to it. I learned that eating lighter in the evening is better.

At this nursing home as the weather gets warmer the noon meal gets lighter. I don't know why things have changed. Nutritionists still think eating more in the middle of the day is good. But for some reason that doesn't happen here as spring starts.

I've also noticed that several noon meals a week do not include vegetables. Some offer a sandwich and feature lettuce and tomato. Now I know lettuce and tomatoes are vegetables. Well, actually, lettuce is a vegetable, tomato is a citrus fruit. But you get the idea. Some days the only thing that resembles a vegetable on the lunch menu are pickles. Now pickles come from cucumbers and cucumbers are vegetables. But seriously, four dill pickle slices are not the equivalent of a serving of vegetables. However, I do know that schools once considered catsup to be a vegetable. Maybe dietary managers are using old school rules because at some lunches the only thing close to a vegetable is catsup.

I have watched us being served fewer vegetables for probably a year. I do not remember bringing this veggie fact up to the dietitian or the dietary manager. If I did, I'm sure they looked at me perplexed wondering why I asked. It's simple, I like vegetables, at least most of them, and salads, and we don't get enough.

I would love to have raw carrots, or celery, or even cucumbers to dip in Italian dressing or something. That would be good along with a sandwich. I don't see why we can't do that at least once in a while.

Also, if frozen vegetables are too expensive to serve every lunch, then buy canned ones. I grew up on canned vegetables and they were good. I would enjoy them. The residents without teeth could eat them. They would purée easily also.

Today we had a pizza burger on a bun. The pizza burger has mozzarella cheese in the middle. Sometimes that mozzarella is more prominent then other times. We had shoestring French fries – a tad undercooked – and a piece of cake with a few strawberries and blueberries and whipped topping on it. That was it.

I asked if there were any extra veggies, possibly leftovers from last night, that I can have with lunch. (I saw cooked veggies on resident trays yesterday. But the veggies were not on mine.) Since they served a veggie yesterday and said veggie was not on the menu, I think I've established precedent. Nevertheless, I was told that since there's no vegetable on the menu, there was nothing to give me.

I went to lunch and ate what I was served but didn't have the cake. Instead I had applesauce and like a curmudgeon I said, "I guess I will have to start taking B vitamins because actual vegetables are getting scarce".

I got a few strange looks. But I made my point.