A local medical center is fighting the stigma that hospital food is bland and boring, and they’re doing it one delicious dish at a time. It’s in this 7Spotlight with Courtney Allen.
The work day starts early for the chefs at Memorial Hospital Miramar.
Aristoteles Castaneda: “We make all the magic from 4 a.m.”
Between the patients, staff, and visitors, they prepare more than 1,000 meals every day.
But what sets this hospital kitchen apart is the types of meals they make.
Aristoteles Castaneda: “Every week we try to make a different menu. For example, one week we make Mexican food, another week, Hispanic food, another week, Asian food.”
Chef Aristoteles Castaneda says variety is key.
The hospital chefs spend hours cooking up paella, parmesan gnocchi and oxtail — dishes you might not expect to find in a regular hospital cafeteria.
Lisa Rosinsky: “Oxtails is a Caribbean dish that one of our lead cooks makes. She is from the Caribbean, and it outmatches any restaurant’s oxtail that you can get.”
The stew is so good, it’s usually sold out in two hours.
Food and nutrition director Lisa Rosinsky says they work closely with the kitchen to make sure the meals are nutritious for the patients.
Lisa Rosinsky: “Let’s face it, patients don’t feel well, so we try to provide something that looks attractive to them because we eat with our eyes first and, you know, make sure that we can give them what they want.”
But Rosinsky and Castaneda agree, nutritious doesn’t have to mean bland.
Lisa Rosinsky: “We can provide nutritious food for a diverse population so that everybody is welcome to eat here.”
Aristoteles Castaneda: “They try make the food really like gourmet food.”
The patients aren’t the only ones noticing. Staff members say the cafeteria is a delicious stop to refuel during long shifts.
Joel Camargo: “My old job, the food was not so great, but here, the food is very good, very good.”
Tahira Smith: “It really exceeded my expectations honestly. I love the food here.”
Feedback like that keeps the chefs at Memorial cooking.
Aristoteles Castaneda: “Visitors, they come to us and they say, ‘You know, I never see the food here in the hospital is like a restaurant.'”
Striving to bring the comfort of a good meal to staff and patients alike.
Lisa Rosinsky: “Each one of our team thinks of our patients as part of their family, because we would want our patients to be treated like our family members would be treated.”
And when the treats are this good, everyone is satisfied.
Courtney Allen, 7News.
If you know of a person, place, or group that you think we should highlight, email us at 7spotlight@wsvn.com.
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.