Calories, commerce, and culture: The multiple valuations of food in prison

Abstract

In the last two decades, a body of critical scholarship has emerged accentuating the social and cultural importance of food in prison. This article employs a tripartite conceptual framework for contemplating and demarcating food's different valuations in prison. We draw from our interviews with over 500 incarcerated individuals to demonstrate how acquiring, trading, and preparing food is inscribed with use, exchange, and sign values. In doing so, we provide illustrative examples of how food informs processes of stratification, distinction, and violence in prison.

Food and the prison environment: a meta-ethnography of global first-hand experiences of food, meals and eating in custody

“…Number of participants not stated Prison-issued meals, prison shop Hannan-Jones, 2016 8 Australia 120 male prisoners, unstated number of food service staff in a maximum-security prison Prison-issued meals Heckenberg and Cody 2006 9 Australia Six men previously incarcerated males (all had been resident in the maximum and medium security wings of the same prison) Prison-issued meals Williams et al, 2008 10 Australia 27 men and nine women. Three prisons, one male maximum security, one male minimum security, and one female prison Prison-issued meals, prison shop Graaf and Kilty 2016 11 Canada 12 previously incarcerated women resident in a transition house Prison-issued meals, prison shop Godderis, 2006a ,12 , 2006b ,13 Canada 17 men across three prisons, two medium-security and one minimum-security Prison-issued meals Ifeonu et al, 2022 14 Canada 495 men and 92 women in four prisons Prison-issued meals, prison shop Kjaere Minke, 2014 15 Denmark 68 men in a maximum-security prison Self-cook Smoyer, 2019 17 Denmark 9 women across remand centre, closed prison and open prison Self-cook Ugelvik, 2011 17 Norway Unstated number men resident in two remand wings in one prison Prison-issued meals, prison shop Vanhouche, …”

“…However, some noted acceptance that any food, whether good or bad, would be poorly received by people in custody because they were in prison, ‘At the end of the day, steak or Spam, prison food is prison food’ (first-order, Smith, 2002 , p.204); ‘ We’re in jail, not the Hilton’ (Vanhouche, 2015 , p.51); ‘It’s prison. What the f*** do they (other prisoners) expect (Ifeonu et al, 2022 ) and ‘ Can the food be good here? This is after all a jail’ (Chatterjee and Chatterjee, 2018 , p.51).…”

“…Like the perceived quality of the food, negative experiences around portion size led to ‘filling up’ on purchases of ‘junk’ from the canteen (Campbell et al, 2011 ; Collica 2010 ; Comfort 2002 ; Eves and Gesch 2003 ; Franzel et al, 2013 ; Graaf and Kilty 2016 ). ‘To actually feel full around here, you actually have to get canteen’ (Ifeonu et al, 2022 ).…”

“…In another Australian study (Hannan-Jones and Capra, 2016 ), a Turkish individual described secretly culturing yoghurt for months using prison-issued milk and a culture from a yoghurt he had been given as part of his breakfast pack. In Canada, Ifeonu et al, ( 2022 ) report an account of one individual making toffee in prison ‘He gets a bunch of peanut butter, a bunch of honey, and a bunch of sugar, and he makes his own toffee, right. He did it all up, melted it, and put it in the fridge.…”

“…Parsons ( 2017 ), in her study of the café and kitchen of a day release and resettlement facility, suggests that cooking lunch for themselves and others increased the self-esteem, self-respect, and self-confidence of those in custody, ‘ It enables you to have conversations … to define who you are a bit’ (p1086). Ifeonu et al, ( 2022 ) suggests that as food is acquired, exchanged, prepared, and consumed, in prison it becomes invested with a value that speaks to a person’s standing in the prison community and that food-related identities are used as forms of distinction.…”