Social restaurants and artisan workshops where they produce good food. The best recipes for re-educating inmates who aspire to be reintegrated into civil society, in the happy examples of prisons in Turin, Milan and Taranto.
FreeMensa, food for free minds in the Turin area.
The LiberaMensa project was founded in 2005, in the form of a social cooperative, to provide training and social reintegration opportunities for inmates of the ‘Lorusso and Cutugno’ prison (Le Vallette, Turin). Every year about 30 prisoners learn the art of catering, under the guidance of professional chefs, earning a stipend. Educational effectiveness and resilience have earned LiberaMensa a prominent position among the food policies of the Savoy capital. (1)
The ‘Flour in the Sack’ bakery, ‘Land and Air’ nursery where saffron is grown, catering services and gastronomy are organized inside the prison . And the restaurant, intended at lunchtime for internal users (from prison officers to all those who work in the prison), in the evening for the public. The project was driven by the intent to demonstrate how even in such an environment high levels of professionalism can be achieved. Patrons can thus connect with the prison reality to share a novel experience. Overcoming prejudices to rediscover humanity, commitment and authentic flavors ‘behind bars’.
The work approach is based on the careful selection of local products from short supply chains, high-quality raw materials, and seasonal fruits and vegetables. Preparations follow artisanal methods with high craftsmanship, in bakery and pastry as well as in the preparation of ice cream. The gastronomy offers a wide selection of menus, from simpler meals to fine dinners and buffets for gala evenings. LiberaMensa works with several agencies that organize events, dinners, catering and coffee breaks for public entities, private companies and ceremonies.
Michele Cannistraro, winner of Master Chef All Stars, recently partnered with LiberaMensa to develop a gourmet street food line. (2). The celebrity chef will guide the social cooperative’s employees in making 16 whimsical preparations, which will be distributed to food outlets in Turin managed by LiberaMensa. Courthouse and Egyptian Museum Cafeterias, the Lorusso and Cutugno Prison Bar, and the new location at 208 Corso Giulio Cesare. A further push for social inclusion and progressive acceptance into the work environment of people with difficult backgrounds.
‘InGalera’, Bollate (MI). Michelin-starred gourmet jailbirds
Bollate Prison (MI) has been ahead of its time with a catering service-‘La Sapienza in Tavola’-started in 2004 by Silvia Polleri, president of the social cooperative Abc. Then in 2015, the restaurant ‘InGalera’ was opened inside the prison facility, which quickly earned a Michelin star and sponsorship of dishes by chef Carlo Cracco. (3) The careful selection of raw materials and professionalism of the work, again, have made it possible to achieve goals that are difficult even for restaurateurs ‘outside the walls’ (of the enclosure).
The restaurant-open for lunch and dinner-employs 12 inmates serving sentences and 2 in local foster care, all of whom are regularly employed. The chef comes from Gualtiero Marchesi’s Alma culinary school and takes care of training even novice individuals, at least in the kitchen. Four former inmates who followed this path have since succeeded in obtaining stable employment in line with their experiences. Proving how dedication and professionalism can actually trigger virtuous synergies.
Themed events have then entered the ‘InGalera’ agenda for a year now. The predictable ‘murder dinners’ are joined by wine presentations and cultural gatherings.
Buoni Dentro, bakery from ancient grains in Milan
The ‘Buoni Dentro’ project-at the Cesare Beccaria Penitentiary Institute in Milan-combines social commitment to inmates with sensitivity to the issues of sustainable, km0 farming. (5) Which are rooted in an area of great agricultural tradition, where the link between food, ethics and the environment is still solid.
Since 2012, inmates have been offered the chance to learn a job, that of a baker, which is still in high demand. The workshop within the city walls was joined in 2015 by an outdoor outlet at 5 Piazza Bettini (Milan, Bande Nere area).
The Milan-based workshop of ‘Buoni Dentro’ offers children, under the guidance of a master craftsman, the opportunity to interact with the outside world every day that confirms their confidence in the concrete possibility of being reborn to new life. The cooperative produces breads, focaccia, pizzas, breadsticks, cakes, panettone and doves using flour from a mix of 11 km0 ancient grains, supplied by small producers in the DESR (Distretto Economia Solidale Rurale) of the South Milan Agricultural Park.
Prisoners who participate in the program have the opportunity, among other things, to interact with key players in localpeasant agriculture. They are thus projected into a cultural context that raises awareness and responsibility toward land protection, biodiversity and the rediscovery of traditional agricultural techniques, respecting the ecosystem and human relations.
Article 21, the blessed social redemption in Taranto
The Article 21 social restaurant–in Taranto at 2 Constantinople Street, between the old city and the Tamburi–was started a decade ago thanks to the vision of Don Francesco Mitidieri. The chaplain of the Taranto penitentiary, founder of the Noi E Voi association, which started the social cooperative of the same name, chaired by Antonio Erbante, also collecting a contribution from the Megamark foundation. (6) Six employees, aged between 19 and 35, work there today.
Article 21 recurs in the Italian Constitution, which proclaims freedom of thought there, and in the Prison Ordinance. Which in the special provision contemplates the possibility for prisoners to be assigned to outside work as an opportunity for reeducation and reintegration. And again, in the Consolidated Immigration Act, Article 21 regulates entry and labor flows as opportunities for integration.
The Art. 21 restaurant has become in just a few years in Taranto the symbolic place of integration and valuing diversity. Where you can enjoy the simple and genuine dishes of the Taranto tradition, at good prices, with wine from grapes that come from lands confiscated from the organized underworld. A true emblem of social renewal.
Fleeting reflections
The criminal sanction, in legal theory as in the current Italian legal system, pursues a dual function. In addition to the ‘retributive’ – and therefore afflictive – function, proportionate to the social disvalue attributed by state law to the crime committed and ascertained in compliance with procedures, is the general preventive function. Which must, or at least should, take the form of activities suitable for educating and rehabilitating convicted offenders so that they will refrain from further criminal activities in the future and will instead be able to participate in social activities in accordance with the established rules of coexistence.
‘Punishments must aim at the re-education of the convicted person ‘ (Constitution of the Italian Republic, Article 27, Paragraph 3).
The positive, non-inflictive component of punishment, however, struggles to emerge in the day-to-day life of prisons that are often overcrowded and lack adequate resources to foster the social reintegration of inmates. Thus, vicious and criminogenic circles are triggered that lead – even as a result of the prison experience – to marginalization, unemployment, anti-social behavior and recidivism.
Never before has food become the bearer of instances of equality, ethics and justice as in the present historical moment. Influencing a wide range of socioeconomic spheres and revealing the unfair mechanisms of a globalized supply chain that pollutes the planet and tramples on the rights of all, from farm to fork. The initiatives described, as well as others that we will have the opportunity to outline, once again demonstrate the potential of fair and sustainable supply chains to effect favorable change in the society in which we live.
Through inclusion, training and empowerment of individuals, it is therefore possible to restore even to those who have done wrong the hope of a new life that is indispensable to themselves and the community. In just a few years the Bollate prison has seen an extraordinary reduction in the recidivism rate, now around 17 percent compared to peaks in other Italian prisons of close to 70 percent.
#Égalité!
Dario Dongo and Giulia Caddeo
Notes
(1) http://www.cittadelbio.it/pdf/BOOK_Turin_food_policy.pdf, p. 67
(2) https://www.lastampa.it/topnews/stampa-plus/2019/05/22/news/dalle-cucine-del-carcere-escono-focacce-e-panini-degni-di-masterchef-1.33703670
(3) https://www.corriere.it/buone-notizie/19_aprile_11/a-cena-ingalera-ristorante-ora-si-va-anche-carcere-1b7aadd2-5c66-11e9-b6d2-280acebb4d6e.shtml
(4) https://www.lastampa.it/rubriche/la-risposta-del-cuore/2019/06/09/news/nel-ristorante-ingalera-del-carcere-di-bollate-dove-il-menu-parla-di-speranza-e-inclusione-1.36539710
(5) https://www.altragamma.com/it/2019/07/08/cooperativa-buoni-dentro/?fbclid=IwAR05qMQ5wDFPuyCZ1yAY3wy2V_zyyic8uPCLa-8iLwLxxMT9woBXw6MA3CQ
(6) https://agensir.it/territori/2016/11/30/a-taranto-il-ristorante-sociale-articolo-21-e-diventato-un-richiamo-per-la-citta/
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in law, master in Food, Law & Finance. You have explored the theme of green procurement and urban food policies in the International Cooperation and Peace sector of the City of Turin.
