Current:Home > ScamsOhio prison holds first-ever five-course meal open to public on facility grounds-LoTradeCoin
Ohio prison holds first-ever five-course meal open to public on facility grounds
View Date:2025-01-11 07:35:38
GRAFTON, Ohio (AP) — A state prison in northeast Ohio says that for the first time in the state’s history, a five-course meal has been served to members of the public with food prepared by incarcerated men from fruits and vegetables grown in the prison garden.
Almost 60 people dined at Grafton Correctional Institution, where incarcerated men in the prison’s EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute hosted the event in the “EDWINS’ Garden” and “Hope City Garden.”
EDWINS, an organization dedicated to education in prisons, hosted the dinner as part of its culinary course, offered in 652 prisons and jails around the country. The six-month course provides training to incarcerated people, teaching them cooking techniques, safety and sanitation, knife skills and other certifications needed to work in a fine dining establishment.
“Figuratively what is happening is that we’re reframing what’s possible in prison,” said Chef Brandon Chrostowski.
Chrostowski — a James Beard Award semifinalist and finalist for Outstanding Restauranteur — formed a partnership with the staff at Grafton Correctional Institution in 2012, and designed a class to teach incarcerated men about culinary arts and hospitality.
The program was born out of the belief that “every human being, regardless of their past, has the right to a fair and equal future,” Chrostowski said.
Bouquets of magenta roses, lilies and other flowers lined a table covered with white linen cloth. Fresh bread and olive oil was set out for each diner. The table was placed in the middle of the two gardens.
Incarcerated men grow a range of fruits, vegetables and herbs ranging from parsley to corn and beets.
Greg Sigelmier, 40, an incarcerated person at GCI, says he looks forward to attending the program every week. He says the class has helped him come out of his shell.
He first signed up to work in the kitchen for the dinner party because he didn’t want guests to see how nervous he was.
After some thought and conversation with others close to him, he thought it would be good to challenge himself by doing something that makes him feel uncomfortable. Sigelmier said he’s considering working in the industry when he is released in a year.
“This could be the rest of my life. And they’re doing this for everybody. They’re not looking at me as a number. They’re looking at me as a person,” Sigelmier said.
The five-course meal began with a beet salad with goat cheese and greens, followed by a kale “purse” with farmer cheese. Guests ate roasted salmon topped with a béarnaise sauce and braised garden greens. Roasted lamb with tomato provencal followed. Dessert included a corn cake with blueberry compote and Chantilly cream.
Each course was paired with a mocktail, one of them named the “botinique” — soda with a thyme-infused honey syrup and lemon.
The program also requires participants to learn each other’s working styles and behaviors, and helps them to build relationships over preparing and sharing a meal.
“Working together as the community that we are and at the end getting to eat the food, it’s the best part. You should see the faces on these guys when they’re eating just the regular chicken noodle soup that we just all worked together. It’s incredible,” 28-year-old Efrain Paniagua-Villa said.
Before his incarceration, Paniagua-Villa said he spent a lot of his time cooking at home with his mother and sister. He said cooking with his classmates has helped fill the gap that was left when he began his stint in prison 2 1/2 years ago.
The incarcerated men in the EDWINS culinary program at GCI are serving a variety of sentences from short to life and range in age from 20 to 70, according to the organization.
Some of the men in the EDWINS program will graduate and have the option to apply to work at many restaurants in the Cleveland area upon their release.
“Many of our guys that live here are going home, so they’re going home to be our neighbors. We want our neighbors to be prepared to be law-abiding citizens, and that’s what this program is about. It’s not just about teaching guys how to cook or how to prepare food,” said GCI warden Jerry Spatny. “This gives them reentry level skills so that when they go home, they can be successful in that environment.”
veryGood! (6)
Related
- Why Kathy Bates Decided Against Reconstruction Surgery After Double Mastectomy for Breast Cancer
- Dylan Mulvaney Calls Out Bud Light’s Lack of Support Amid Ongoing “Bullying and Transphobia”
- Nature’s Say: How Voices from Hawai’i Are Reframing the Climate Conversation
- A big misconception about debt — and how to tackle it
- 24 more monkeys that escaped from a South Carolina lab are recovered unharmed
- UPS workers poised for biggest U.S. strike in 60 years. Here's what to know.
- Dear Life Kit: My boyfriend's parents pay for everything. It makes me uncomfortable
- Alabama lawmakers approve new congressional maps without creating 2nd majority-Black district
- Mississippi governor intent on income tax cut even if states receive less federal money
- 2 youths were killed in the latest fire blamed on an e-bike in New York City
Ranking
- The Daily Money: Inflation is still a thing
- Child dies from brain-eating amoeba after visiting hot spring, Nevada officials say
- Euphora Star Sydney Sweeney Says This Moisturizer “Is Like Putting a Cloud on Your Face”
- Taylor Swift, Keke Palmer, Austin Butler and More Invited to Join the Oscars’ Prestigious Academy
- Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had a stroke earlier this month, is expected to make full recovery
- Your banking questions, answered
- 45 Lululemon Finds I Predict Will Sell Out 4th of July Weekend: Don’t Miss These Buys Starting at $9
- A Florida Chemical Plant Has Fallen Behind in Its Pledge to Cut Emissions of a Potent Greenhouse Gas
Recommendation
-
Dave Coulier Says He's OK If This Is the End Amid Stage 3 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Battle
-
New Jersey school bus monitor charged with manslaughter after allegedly using phone as disabled girl suffocated
-
Illinois Now Boasts the ‘Most Equitable’ Climate Law in America. So What Will That Mean?
-
Chrissy Teigen Gushes Over Baby Boy Wren's Rockstar Hair
-
Beyoncé has released lots of new products. Here's a Beyhive gift guide for the holidays
-
Special counsel continues focus on Trump in days after sending him target letter
-
SpaceX prepares to launch its mammoth rocket 'Starship'
-
Kelsea Ballerini Speaks Out After Onstage Incident to Address Critics Calling Her Soft