Bring back noonoos!
What things are on practically every kids menu at every restaurant and institutional cafeteria in the US? Cheeseburgers, pizza, chicken fingers, and spaghetti. It’s practically the only thing this country agrees on, and while always thought we’d keep Wes on a healthy, fresh, modern diet, cancer changes everything.
Kids with leukemia, particularly at certain phases of their treatment, are notorious for their limited palates, usually skewing bland, salty, and starchy. French fries, noodles, and rice are really common staples, and this is basically Wes’ rotating diet – and at this point whatever gets him calories and fat in suitable quantities, that he can keep down, is really fine with us. If he wanted ice cream for breakfast I’d be thrilled, but nope. It’s mostly noodles. Noonoos, in fact. Noonoos with sawse, or noonoos with burr. White noodles, long noodles, tiny noodles. He has a repetoire, but it’s all noodles, all the time.
CHOP room service – Wes’ caloric lifeline, since during most visits it’s basically impossible to leave the floor with Wes to get better food, or even to meet a delivery service – has a pretty common kids menu for patients, and they’ll make an effort to make anything you want that they can. Spaghetti and sauce is, of course, on the menu, so it’s east. We order noonoos for breakfast. Noonoos for lunch. Noonoos just in case he wakes up in the middle of the night starving.
So what do we find out this week, during the longest stay ever?
Yep. CHOP room service decided, inexplicably, to remove one of the most basic and universal kids dishes from the menu that most of their patients depend on. A dish so easy to prepare, so easy to store, so cheap to make, so broadly loved, you’ll find it everywhere. Mexican restaurant? Sushi joint? Diner? Prison? Chances are, if there’s a kids menu, Spaghetti and Marinara is on there, right? It’s cheap, tasty, messy calories with a profit margin second only to liquor, and the hospital sadly doesn’t have a bar.
So what can be done?
Well, that’s where this post comes into play. Would you please share this page with CHOP, using the hashtag #bringbacknoonoos?
You can find them on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/ChildrensHospitalofPhiladelphia
And on Twitter: https://twitter.com/childrensphila
Be nice, please. We love CHOP unconditionally. Well, except this one little thing. But it’s a big thing, so please, #bringbacknoonoos
UPDATE: the Noonoo’s are apparently coming back!
