Hospital kitchen invited 65 guests to a nine-course organic dinner

A fad with carrot sandwiches is gaining hearts. The 65 guests hungry for dinner have just moved the Eco-food day napkins and placed them beside their dishes on the decorated tables. Now, the colorful carrot sandwiches and two other cold appetizers are being transferred from platters onto plates.

The roasted carrots are served with a chili-garlic-tarragon mayonnaise and popped barley wheat on a piece of rye bread from the hospital's own bakery.

"Many think that our carrot sandwiches are surprisingly good. They have a nice balance between something sweet and sour, with chili adding some heat, and when the old variety of carrot is baked, it gets an incredibly beautiful color," says head chef Mona Carøe.

She fully agrees that the carrot sandwiches – along with the beetroot carpaccio and ginger hummus, which are also served as appetizers – are good examples of how the patient and canteen kitchen at the Regional Hospital of Randers has evolved over several decades.

Once, they ran a conventional canteen buffet with meat as the first choice and served traditional gravy dishes to patients.

Now, they are pioneers of an organic, vegetable-based kitchen that is healthy for patients and staff – and for nature and the environment. They serve meals that meet dietary guidelines and are 98% organic. And all within the same budget.

Was it the first with the eating label

As the first hospital in Denmark, it received the Organic Eating Label in bronze in 2012. Along the way, the kitchen has created its own bakery and slaughterhouse, while food waste has been cut down to the bone – even beef bones are boiled into fond.

The kitchen professionals have optimized processes, found ways to enhance flavor in vegetable dishes, and gradually reduced the amount of meat.

Looking at legumes, they use 594% more when comparing 2019 with 2024. They have gone from 850 kg to 6 tons. Additionally, they have started using more grains like barley and pearl barley.

"We are proud of that. We are a hospital, and I believe we have an obligation to serve healthy food to both patients and staff, and also to nature and the environment," Mona Carøe explains in her presentation to the guests.

Since 2019, the kitchen has held the Organic Eating Label in gold, and this Thursday evening, they offered guests social dining and nine courses in connection with Eco-food Day – the new national communal meal concept of the Organic Association.

And for the sake of clarity, it should be mentioned that the event was partly financed by the Organic Association, partly by user fees: it cost 40 DKK per guest.

Pigs don't like parsnips

After Mona Carøe's presentation, the platters with cold dishes are passed around.

One of those serving beautiful carrot sandwiches and beetroot carpaccio onto their plate is Bertel Hestbjerg. He runs the country's largest organic pig production and has driven here from the family farm in West Jutland.

Opposite him sits the couple Helle and Brian, who ask curious questions about his production.

Bertel Hestbjerg explains that his 27,000 organic pigs annually eat about 30 tons of root vegetables, which are very good for their natural rooting behavior.

"They love beets, but they don't want to eat parsnips and parsley roots."

"We don't want to either," says Helle, and the couple bursts into laughter.

Shortly after, they become sad to hear from Bertel Hestbjerg that unfortunately, consumers are buying less organic pork.

"I would estimate that today there are fewer than 10,000 organic sows in the organic sector, whereas a few years ago, it was over 15,000. Danes have never spent so little of their disposable income on food as they do now," says Bertel Hestbjerg.

Younger brother loves vegetables

At another table, four former employees of the hospital's service department have taken the opportunity to meet. Gitte explains that over the years, she has been inspired by the canteen to eat more greens and grows a lot of vegetables in her garden.

"The hospital kitchen is a good role model for me. It's incredible what they can get out of vegetables. Just look at these carrot sandwiches – the color of them reminds me of salmon."

At the other end of the table sits a family with roots in Sri Lanka with three children aged 6, 9, and 13.

The children's mother Darshi thinks it's a cozy evening with really good food and knowledge about ecology, but also that it can be expensive to buy organic.

Daughter Yenuli, 13, is in 8th grade at a nearby school, and she says that two years ago, she and her class visited the organic hospital kitchen. There, they learned about reducing food waste and making green dishes.

"She has told us about it at home," says Darshi proudly of her older daughter, and explains that they eat many green dishes.

"We love vegetables," adds little brother Binula spontaneously.

He is especially fond of carrots and cucumbers.

"We make salads with cabbage and roooo…," Darshi says, smiling and pointing at the beautiful beets decorated on the table – a word that can be difficult to pronounce when you grew up in Sri Lanka.

Because we prioritize ecology

Just behind them, a group of neighbors is talking as they drive here from a rural area west of Randers. Among them, the student couple Camilla and Daniel.

Especially the carrot sandwiches in the cold appetizer caught their attention. It's a dish Camilla has become eager to make herself. For her, it has been "very inspiring" to see how green dishes can be made.

"And I think it's amazing that you can run such a large kitchen almost entirely organically."

Camilla explains that even though she and Daniel are students, ecology is very important at home. The choice of organic mainly comes from her parents, who have always been very conscious of the environment and animal welfare.

"Many of our fellow students don't understand that we can afford it. They think it's crazy that we eat organic eggs."

Asked how they afford organic as students, Daniel replies:

"It’s about eating fewer eggs. The same goes for meat. Instead, we eat more greens."

"It's really about prioritizing," says Camilla firmly.

Want to motivate the eco-choice

Rasmus Prehn really wants to support Camilla, the other Eco-food Day guests, and the entire population in prioritizing the ecological choice.

The CEO of the Organic Association takes the microphone as the sweet dishes – including almond cakes with 15% horse beans – and coffee for dessert are being turned into crumbs and drips, while conversations continue across tables.

He explains that the desire to gather Danes for good, organic meals is the core reason why the Organic Association created Eco-food Day.

"If meals are just something we grab on the go or in front of the computer, much is lost. It has great value to talk together about the food – and as an organization, we want to inspire a reinvention of the shared meal," says Rasmus Prehn, and explains that so far, 17 Eco-food Days have been held, like tonight's.

Solution for fat mud and clean drinking water

Then, Rasmus Prehn outlines good arguments for the ecological choice. That organic farming provides solutions to many parameters – including the major problems with fat mud in our fjords and pesticide residues in our drinking water. He talks about animals that come out of the barn and live under the open sky.

In the subsequent Q&A, eager questioners lead the shared discussion about vertical farms, conditions for Danish vegetable producers, and whether the world can be fed with enough food if it is only grown organically.

To the last question, Rasmus Prehn responds that we definitely need to eat differently and follow dietary guidelines so that our plates reflect what needs to happen in the fields. That is, to use our farmland more for vegetables and grains for people instead of pig feed.

"That is entirely possible – we tasted that tonight," says Rasmus Prehn.