Ohio prison holds first-ever five-course meal open to public on facility grounds
GRAFTON, Ohio — A state prison in northeastern Ohio reports that for the first time in state history, a five-course meal was served to the public. The food was prepared by inmates, using fruits and vegetables grown in the prison garden.
Nearly 60 people dined at Grafton Correctional Institution, where inmates at the prison’s EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute hosted the event in the “EDWINS’ Garden” and the “Hope City Garden.”
EDWINS, an organization dedicated to prison education, hosted the dinner as part of its culinary course, which is offered in 652 prisons and jails nationwide. The six-month course provides training to inmates, teaching them cooking techniques, safety and hygiene, knife skills and other certifications needed to work in a high-end restaurant.
“Figuratively speaking, we’re reimagining what’s possible in prison,” said Chef Brandon Chrostowski.
Chrostowski, a James Beard Award semifinalist and finalist for Best Restauranteur, partnered with the staff of Grafton Correctional Institution in 2012 and designed a course to teach incarcerated men about culinary arts and hospitality.
The program was born from the belief that “every person, regardless of their past, has the right to a fair and equal future,” Chrostowski said.
Bouquets of magenta roses, lilies and other flowers were placed on a table covered with a white linen cloth. Fresh bread and olive oil were placed for each guest. The table was in the middle of the two gardens.
Prisoners grow all kinds of fruits, vegetables and herbs, from parsley to corn and beets.
Greg Sigelmier, 40, an inmate at GCI, says he looks forward to attending the program each week. He says the class has helped him come out of his shell.
He had initially signed up to work in the kitchen for the dinner because he didn’t want his guests to see how nervous he was.
After some thought and conversations with others close to him, he thought it would be good to challenge himself by doing something he was uncomfortable with. Sigelmier said he is considering working in the industry when he gets out in a year.
“This could be the rest of my life. And they do this for everybody. They don’t see me as a number. They see me as a person,” Sigelmier said.
The five-course meal began with a beetroot salad with goat cheese and greens, followed by a kale purse with farmer’s cheese. Guests dined on roasted salmon with a bearnaise sauce and braised garden vegetables. Roasted lamb with tomato Provencal followed. Dessert was a corn cake with blueberry compote and Chantilly cream.
Each dish was served with a mocktail, one of which was called the “botinique”: a soft drink with a honey syrup with thyme and lemon.
The program also requires participants to learn about each other’s work styles and behaviors and helps them build relationships while preparing and sharing a meal.
“Working together as the community that we are and finally eating the food, that’s the best part. You should see the faces of these guys when they eat the plain chicken soup that we all made together. It’s incredible,” said 28-year-old Efrain Paniagua-Villa.
Before his incarceration, Paniagua-Villa said he spent a lot of time at home cooking with his mother and sister. He said cooking with his classmates helped fill the void left when he started in prison 2 1/2 years ago.
According to the organization, the men incarcerated in the EDWINS cooking program at GCI are serving sentences ranging from short to life sentences. They range in age from 20 to 70.
Some men who participate in the EDWINS program will graduate and have the opportunity to apply for a job at one of the many restaurants in the Cleveland area upon their release.
“A lot of our boys who live here are going to go 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 all about. It’s not just about teaching boys how to cook or how to prepare food,” GCI Director Jerry Spatny said. “This gives them re-entry-level skills so that when they go home, they can be successful in that environment.”