We use good food to improve prisoners’ lives
We work with prisons across England & Wales on a range of original initiatives that enable them to champion tasty and exciting food. Our work is shaped around each unique establishment and united by our philosophy of wholesome food for everyone in society. We support catering teams with recipes, skills, ideas and inspiration to enhance menus and serve nutritious food. We teach prisoners how to cook, bake and grow food through our holistic programme of food education. And we raise awareness around the importance of good quality food in prison and the impact it can have on society.
Our Services
Prison Kitchens
We empower and upskill catering teams, equipping them with knowledge, support and inspiration. Prison kitchens face unique challenges compared to other institutional settings. A small daily budget coupled with the complex nature of preparing, transporting and serving food to hundreds (sometimes thousands) of individuals per day makes running a prison kitchen a tough job.
We support them with practical education, menu development and specialist training. We involve the prison population at every stage, by running food forums, tasting sessions and healthy eating advice. We tailor our support to the prison and work collaboratively with each department to build a positive food culture that lasts.
Food Education
We deliver a range of holistic food education programmes in men’s and women’s prisons across the country. All of our prison food education is about cooking simple, healthy and budget-friendly food. We run cooking programmes where individuals can explore new ingredients, cuisines and flavours and make food that means something to them.
Our baking education enables individuals to reap the therapeutic benefits of making bread or cakes. We provide a space for prisoners to connect with food and share it with each other. Our cooking classes take place in the prison kitchen, an education kitchen or even sometimes on the wing. Our classes equip people in prison with skills they can utilise in their future lives, whilst improving their wellbeing during their sentence.
Kitchen Gardens
We are passionate about utilising prison land to grow delicious, seasonal food and to teach people in prison about the benefits of growing food. We do this by helping establish prison kitchen gardens and running food growing education programmes for prisoners. These initiatives allow people the space to connect with nature and learn about the food system.
Homegrown food can make a significant impact on people’s diets in prison. It can ease budget pressures and boost sustainability. Our kitchen garden programmes also enhance people’s wellbeing by giving them much-needed time out of their cell. We have even successfully introduced beekeeping programmes and trained prisoners and staff in the art of beekeeping.