Eating In

Good food for prisoners (and everybody else!)

When I was a prisoner in mainstream, I was surviving mainly on fruit and toast. The reasons for that were complex, but the upshot was when I transferred to prerelease and allowed to cook for myself, I realised that I hadn’t actually cooked a meal in at least five years! The last time I had any relationship with food before that was when I worked as a short-order cook after (almost) completing a prevocational commercial cookery course at Adelaide TAFE. My lifestyle at the time ensured that I didn’t complete that certificate. I couldn’t recall the last time I had cooked an actual meal for myself. My chaotic life had put food very low down on my list of priorities for many years. My food preparation experience acquired through various jobs was enough for me to cook the basics, but the limited ingredients, my restrictive budget and limited cooking utensils at the Adelaide Pre-release Centre (APC) back then meant that I continued to live mostly on fruit and toasties. I looked for inspiration in recipe books and magazines available around the APC but most of them required at least one ingredient that was unavailable, and ingredient quantities were usually given in grams or ounces – there was no way of working out the correct conversion into cups or tablespoons which were the only measuring equipment that we had in our cottage. For about five years after my release, I worked really hard to make positive changes in my life. I kept to myself, ignored previous friendship groups, changed my phone number and slowly reduced off pharmacotherapy. Each

day I became more confident that I wouldn’t relapse. I had few skills and a criminal record and was unsure what to do with my life, other than to be a better parent to my child, who was by then just starting school. Still unsure of what I would like to do for a job, I sat for adult entry to university to get some kind of qualification and enrolled into a Bachelor of Arts at Flinders Uni which provided the broadest range of courses for someone like me who still didn’t know what they wanted to be when they grew up. I was drawn most to criminology and sociology but while the subjects were interesting on paper I felt I needed practical experience. I applied, and was accepted, to work as a volunteer at an organisation which supported prisoners and their families. After proving myself a reliable and motivated volunteer for 12 months, I was offered a job which included providing hepatitis C transmission and prevention information to prisoners and their families. It was in this role that I once again came across the challenges of cooking while inside prison, though this time it was from the outside. Prisoners I had contact with would ask for recipe books, reminding me that most of the recipes in magazines called for wine or other ingredients that they could not get. Today, after five years in that first organisation, followed by nine years as a drug and alcohol counsellor, and during all those years undertaking lots of professional development (certificates, qualifications and training), I work with Hepatitis SA as a peer coordinating their support program for the community. Part of my work takes me back to prisons, talking to people about hepatitis, its effects on the liver and their health, how to protect themselves from it, how to look after their liver and sharing my lived experience with hepatitis C. When we talk about liver health, the discussion invariably turns to healthy eating, and I am again reminded of the limitations and challenges of cooking inside. While speaking with prisoners at the Adelaide Prerelease Centre about hepatitis C I was asked if we had any recipe books. I have our liverfriendly recipe book Eat Well for Your Liver but, again, many of the ingredients are not available unless prisoners can afford to do a special buy. That was something I could not afford when I was in there; no doubt there will be many others like me. The result is the Eating In recipe book, coming soon from Hepatitis SA. Tailored for people in South Australian prisons who are allowed to cook for themselves, Eating In presents recipes that have been specially selected for people who self-cater on the inside. All of the ingredients included in each recipe are currently available on the Adelaide Pre-Release Centre “Provisions Order Form”. We received recipe contributions from Hepatitis SA staff and the community, including members of the Local Exchange and Trading System (LETS). Many of the recipes were tested by prisoners who told us what they thought of them and what they would like to see more of in the book. Happily the feedback was 100% positive! Eating In will be available soon. For more information on food and liver health, visit hepsa.asn.au. v

Lisa Carter

Makes 6-8 serves

Ingredients

• 2 zucchini • 1 large onion • 3 rashers of bacon • 6 eggs • 1 cup (about 100g) tasty cheese • 1 cup of self raising flour • 1 teaspoon of margarine, butter or vegetable oil For a vegetarian version, leave out the bacon and add a little more cheese

FROM

Method

Pre-heat oven to 170°C. Finely chop onion into 1cm cubes. Finely chop bacon. Fry the bacon and onion until slightly brown. Grate the zucchinis. Grate the cheese. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg with a fork until the white and yolk are thoroughly combined. Add the cheese, zucchini, flour, bacon and onion to the eggs and mix together thoroughly. Grease a loaf tin or baking dish with the margarine, butter or oil so that the mix won’t stick to it during the baking process. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin or baking dish. Place in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

“You can eat this hot or cold. I used to cook this but forgot the recipe, so it was great to be able to cook it again. It is one of my faves.”