Why do hospitals serve people chicken or turkey after surgery?

Blandness. No inherent taste. After surgery, they don’t want spicy food bothering you or digestive system. So they give you the blandest food imaginable.

But it’s so DRYING. IMO it constitutes a real choking hazard. There are lots of other bland foods to chose from, like Jello or plain mashed potatoes or bread.

@Dutchess_III In my experience they give you all that stuff too. You don’t have to eat the chicken or turkey if it doesn’t work for you.

My Dad craved orange sherbet after his surgeries and they often had it in the patient’s lounge.

I didn’t eat it. I couldn’t eat it! I literally started choking on it. I don’t understand why they’d even offer it when you’re already dry from the anesthesia. Doesn’t over cooked chicken dry the inside of your mouth out?

The surgery I had the beginning of the year, the hospital let me choose what I wanted to eat. There was a menu in my room, and I could order from it whatever and whenever I wanted. Mostly I ordered the grilled salmon.
The nurses notify them of any food allergies for each patient, so if that patient orders anything which might contain problem ingredients they can be told to order something else.

Maybe you are just more susceptible to extreme dry out after anesthesia, @Dutchess_III. I have had a number of surgeries and never had that issue. Next time, strongly request a liquidier post op meal and explain why.

I don’t even remember @Patty_Melt. I remember virtually nothing for the 2 months leading up to the surgery, nothing from when I was in the hospital, except for hazy, spotty memories here and there….and that chicken was one of them.