Kangkung Rarely Appears on Hospital Menus: This Is Why

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Water spinach may be one of Indonesia’s favourite vegetables, prepared in a variety of ways. From stir-fried water spinach to sautéed water spinach, it is widely found in eateries and households. However, this vegetable is surprisingly seldom found on hospital patient menus.

In fact, menu choices in hospitals are made with strict considerations, not merely taste or ingredient price. A nutritionist says that every patient menu must be tailored to health conditions, food safety, and ease of preparation in the hospital kitchen.

Hana Fitria Navratilova, a lecturer in the Department of Community Nutrition, Faculty of Human Ecology at IPB University, says leafy green vegetables such as water spinach are indeed inclined to be rarely used in hospital menus. ‘Generally, leafy vegetables are rarely served on hospital menus because, besides practical reasons such as storage and processing, leafy vegetables tend to be high in purines,’ she said in a statement cited from the IPB University official website, Thursday (21 May 2026).

Besides purines, the content of oxalate and nitrate in leafy vegetables is also a consideration. These substances warrant particular attention for patients with certain conditions, such as kidney disorders or metabolic problems.

Water spinach is among vegetables that cannot be stored for long and must be processed soon after receipt. In a hospital kitchen system that serves many patients with varied diet needs, vegetables that are more stable and easier to manage are usually prioritised.

Hana emphasised that heavy metal contamination can occur in foods, but this is not limited to water spinach. Rice and seafood can also be contaminated if sourced from polluted environments. Long-term excessive intake of heavy metals can cause health problems, from kidney and liver disorders to cancer risk. However, that does not automatically make water spinach dangerous.

There are other technical reasons. Leafy vegetables shrink significantly after cooking, so visually and in portion size they are not ideal for hospital serving standards.

Therefore, hospitals generally choose vegetables that are safer for the majority of patients to eat and easier to control their nutritional content.