Nothing spells patient satisfaction like free-range roast chicken after triple bypass surgery.

Throw some organic potatoes mashed with hormone-free milk and locally grown arugula salad onto the tray and hospital food may soon escape the culinary sneers it usually shares with TV dinners and airline meals.

Such bedside menus may not be far off for Northern California hospitals that are harnessing their buying power to demand changes in how food is grown and distributed. They’re part of a growing alliance of doctors and food advocates who say organic, fresh food is healthier, and local, sustainable food practices reduce pollution and contamination, which will ultimately lead to fewer health problems.

“What people eat is one of the most important determinants of their health,” said Dr. Preston Maring, an obstetrician at Kaiser Permanente who started the movement to put farmers markets outside the hospitals.

Throughout the region, chefs are planting gardens outside the ERs, hospital administrators are hanging out with farmers, and nutritionists are lobbying to overhaul cafeteria contracts to favor organic food.

“The food system promotes high pesticides and overuse of antibiotics, which all health care organizations are saying we have to stop because it’s promoting antibiotic resistance,” said Jamie Harvie, the food coordinator for Health Care Without Harm, a national advocacy organization.