Tidelands Health System’s four chefs faced off against seven South Carolina hospital teams that have achieved Gold Apple status for healthy nutrition initiatives and won first place at the South Carolina Hospital Association’s Cooking Well Invitational Sunday, Sept. 25, in Charleston.

Led by Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital food operations manager Tom DelSolia, the team prepared a meal of goat cheese and herb pancake with roasted beet salad, squid ink pasta with roasted butternut squash and kale and kefir panna cotta with balsamic fennel.

“I’m so proud of our team and our first-place win,” DelSolia said. “Our team members are amazing, and thanks to their skills and talents, we’re the only hospital that has placed every year since the competition began four years ago.”

Tidelands Health placed third in 2015, second in 2014 and third in 2013.

DelSolia, who started working on a menu in April, said he chose the dishes after brainstorming and studying trends in food.

“I try to put together a menu that’s a little bit different and off the grid,” he said. “This year, we made our own pasta and used squid ink to give it color so it would show off the calamari and show up on the plate.”

Crystal Cates, Tidelands Health clinical nutrition manager, said the award shows hospital food doesn’t have to be bland to be healthy.

DelSolia said he’ll start working on next year’s menu after the first of the year. Meanwhile, he’ll be savoring the award with team members Brian Eubanks, food operations manager for Tidelands Georgetown Memorial Hospital; lead chef Derrick Grove and chef Theo Nelson.