The derailing on this thread!
Now, back to the OP! I showed my 17 year old daughter who said: ‘ does everything have to be about men!!’ That she feels this way at 17 is depressing. I’m glad she has a great Dad who did not think like this during my labour, I have no clue what he ate! Or drank?? But what we both did, as adults, was create a large snack box a month before due date, with cash inside for drinks. So, not that I would of thought about his meals, but we were prepared for a long birth and it never crossed our minds to expect food and drink at the hospital. Pack your food and water people! We had enough for 2 frickin days!
Another thing I have to say, with all this expectation of the NHS, which I have my issues with in terms of women’s healthcare, comes from a place of enormous privilege. You have no idea how lucky we are in the UK to get healthcare. It really bothers me my 71 year old Mum has to pay $80 or thereabouts for a short doctors appointment, I think it’s 10 minutes- that’s what it was when I was last living back home in NZ. It would never enter my brain, as a parent of a child or a partner of a woman in labour that the hospital would in any way provide food or drinks for me. They actually gave my husband toast and a milo, along with me, about an hour after birth. I couldn’t believe we got that and although I was soooo grateful, I wouldn’t expect or be annoyed if I didn’t get that. There was a place close enough to buy things if we ran out. All countries have high demands placed on them in terms of providing for the entire population and it’s needs. Your healthcare system is envied around the world. To complain about not being provided food as a non-patient, a visitor or support person, seems extremely spoilt to this particular foreigner. There are definitely areas that need addressing in the system, particularly the poor services for mental healthcare, providing food for anyone but actual patients should not even be a conversation IMO.