From institutional kitchen to modern commercial kitchen — the nutrition assistant's history

Making food for many people is an entirely different discipline than making food for a family. The nutrition assistant's trade is not just about making good food, but about making the right food — in large quantities, for people who are often sick, elderly or have special needs. That trade has its roots in hospital and institutional kitchens and has grown together with our knowledge of diet and health.

§The first institutional kitchens

Even when the first hospitals, poorhouses, and institutions were established, food had to be made for many at once. In the beginning, it was mostly about providing sustenance: the food had to be cheap, durable, and go far. What people ate and how it affected their health was long unknown – the diet was often monotonous and nutritionally poor.

§Nutrition science arrives.

In the course of the 1800s and 1900s, an actual science of diet and health emerged. It was discovered that certain substances in food — what we today call vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats and carbohydrates — were necessary for the body, and that deficiency could cause disease. That knowledge changed the view of institutional food: now the food was not just supposed to fill, but to provide the right nutrition.

§Therapeutic diet and special needs

With growing knowledge came also specialised diets: diet for diabetes soft diet for people with chewing and swallowing problems energy-rich diet for malnourished patients and diet without certain allergens. The large kitchen now had to be able to make many different kinds of food at the same time tailored to the individual — and that required professional knowledge not just good hands.

§A trade in the making

As large kitchens became more specialised, the need grew for skilled employees who could both cook in large scale and understand nutrition. This is the core of the nutrition assistant's trade: the connection between kitchen craftsmanship and knowledge of diet. The trade combines the practical — preparation, hygiene, planning — with the theoretical about what the body needs.

§The modern trade

Today the nutrition assistant is a skilled professional in large kitchens in hospitals nursing homes canteens and institutions. The food must both taste good look appealing and provide the right nutrition — and at the same time there must be control over hygiene economy and food waste. The profession combines the old goal of feeding many with the modern realization that good food is health and quality of life on the plate.

“Good food for a sick person is not a luxury — it is part of getting well.”

— Large kitchen principle