Appetite 147 (2020) 104514
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Appetite
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Editorial
Introduction: Prison foodways. International and multidisciplinary perspectives
ABSTRACT
The role of prison food for those in custody has long been either underestimated, or a narrow subject approached from the vantage point of nutritionists. This special
issue on prison food, tackles extant knowledge gaps by highlighting the scope of interdisciplinary scholarship, and studies of prison foodways that operate at the
intersection of several disciplines. As an introduction to this special issue, we highlight the symbolic role of food as an underestimated feature of the prison
environment. For many prisoners, the restrictive detention conditions give food a greater significance than it has outside: food can, and does, condition life in prison
and, in many respects, symbolises the custodial experience (Smith, 2002).
1. Scholarly interest for prison food
Just as food plays an important role in society, eating inside prison
is a process characterised by power relations, as well as social and
cultural significance. Moreover, in a context of restrictive detention
conditions, food can take on a more critical significance than it does
outside prison. For many prisoners, their custodial lives are conditioned
by their relationship(s) with food, and in many respects, food becomes
symbolic of the prison experience (Smith, 2002). Whilst ‘food studies’
has gained tremendous attention lately (Counihan & Van Esterik,
2008), academic interest in prison food research is curiously marginal.
Food holds an important symbolic, cultural, and emotional value in
our lives, and this is enhanced in the lives of prisoners who are deprived
of their liberty and of the eating habits familiar to them when outside.
Prison fare therefore, has considerably more importance than the slop
on prisoners’ plates provided by the authorities. It is about contraband
cooking; the social, intimate, but also aggressive encounters that take
place around meals, and the care that is reflected in self-made prison
meals. Nevertheless, for a long time, the above themes around prison
food have remained under researched by penological scholars.
However, recent studies have begun to notice the importance that
prisoners ascribe to food. For example, in researching UK prisons, King
and McDermott (1995), showed that 72.5 percent of the prisoners
considered prison food as very important, whilst only 20.8 percent
perceived it as quite important (King & McDermott, 1995, p. 161). A
similar theme is found in the comments of the Belgian dietician Van den
Berge and former prison governor Pieters in 1992. They both claimed
that there was little criminological attention for prison food, only nu-
tritional studies to inform us about prison meals.
In line with food studies, the nutritional approach was the dominant
model of prison food research, and largely perceived food and eating as
merely a means for physiological survival. Other sociological roles of
food were either neglected or regarded as secondary to nutrition.
According to Lupton (1996), this narrow approach downplayed the
complexity of food and eating in food studies, and we take a similar line
in arguing that an analogous development has taken place in our
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T
understanding of the complex roles that food plays within a carceral
environment. We are not suggesting that prison food was totally ne-
glected in previous work, but it has nonetheless been less than central
in the literature. More recently however, a growing body of prison re-
search has made foodways a distinct theme in prison research.
Important themes have emerged from studies that show how prison
food plays a variety of symbolic roles across correctional systems. For
example, food has been shown to reflect ideas of normalisation (Minke,
2014) and experiences of punishment (De Graaf & Kilty, 2016; Maes,
Vanhouche, Scholliers, & Beyens, 2017; Smoyer & Lopes, 2017;
Vanhouche, 2015). Moreover, food is important in the way that pris-
oners shape aspects of their identity(s) (Cate; 2008; Earle & Phillips,
2012; Godderis, 2006a; Minke, 2014; Smoyer, 2014; Ugelvik, 2011;
Valentine & Longstaff, 1998), it also reflects power relationships be-
tween prisoners, and those between prisoners and officers or prison
authorities (Earle & Phillips, 2012; Godderis, 2006b; Minke, 2014;
Smith, 2002; Valentine & Longstaff, 1998). Some studies have also
shown how prisoners use food to fight and resist power (Ugelvik, 2011;
Valentine & Longstaff, 1998). In short, the existing prison food litera-
ture on identity, resistance, power, order, and normalisation, provides a
meaningful starting point and inspiration for the current issue.
2. Beyond penological centrism
Social psychologists and sociologists have investigated sentiments of
belonging among groups of people, questioning the role of language,
ethnicity, age, income, gender, and religion. A strong element, how-
ever, turned out to be food. Moreover, food functions as a means of
establishing power relations, forging status, and overcoming personal
problems (Belasco, 2008). When people of different groups meet, it
appears that identities are accentuated and even exaggerated, which
may lead to conflict as well as negotiation and adaptation. The above
concepts, however, refer to general society. As shown in the previous
section, in situations of detention, issues of identity construction, status,
and power appear even sharper, and food, as a main element of iden-
tification, gets a straightforward central significance.
Editorial
Most current understandings in criminology on the role of prison
fare are generated from penological viewpoints while neglecting, or
only marginally taking into account, results from food studies in so-
ciety. Here we aim to move beyond penological centrism and create a
more holistic understanding of foodways positioned at the intersection
of several disciplines. This enables us to look beyond the boundaries of
disciplines and to broaden perspectives, an approach that we hope
triggers new questions and ideas as well as allowing advanced debate.
Publishing our work in a food journal is therefore a deliberate decision.
The issue includes contributions from scholars in the fields of history,
social science, psychology, criminology and nutrition. Moreover, the
emphasis is to steer away from the overrepresentation of Anglo-
American work within prison (food) studies. Thus, we not only include
studies from the U.K. and the U.S.A. but also from Belgium, Denmark
and some countries in the Balkan region such as Serbia and Croatia.
Consequently, this thematic issue helps to understand the extent to
which experiences with prison food are part of a global understanding
of imprisonment and foodways. Equally, we expect to increase knowl-
edge and understanding of differences and similarities between and
within countries.
3. Thematic issue on prison foodways
This special issue fits the abovementioned strengths, and fills some
of the current gaps in the scholarship on prison food. In order to provide
a detailed overview, authors study a variety of activities related to
prison foodways. The description of Smoyer and Minke (2015) on ac-
tivities related to prison food are all tackled within this issue:
Food systems in correctional settings include institutionally-run
catering services, self-cook facilities, prison shops or canteens, and in-
formal food preparation among inmates which may take place in spite
of institutional rules that prohibit such activity. Food systems in cor-
rectional settings may also include opportunities for incarcerated
people to cook and eat with their visitors and participate in garden or
farming programs (Smoyer & Minke, 2015, p. 1).
Papers are ordered as follows: we start with a general overview on
prison food research, then we discuss the methodological benefits of
food as a feature of prison life upon which we conduct research.
Thirdly, we focus on prison foodways in distinct countries and carceral
contexts.
The special issue opens with an overview of what we know from the
extant scholarship. Smoyer, a social work researcher presents a scoping
review of qualitative and quantitative peer-reviewed journal articles
about food in correctional settings. She summarizes this existing work
and formulates critical recommendations for further research. Then, we
consider prison food studies in Belgium and start with a historical
perspective on the topic. Historian Erkul explores hunger strikes based
on motivations of Belgian detainees and reactions of prison authorities
in the interwar period. She concludes that these prisoners were labelled
mentally ill and that force feeding was used as a means to discipline
prisoners. Criminologist Vanhouche explores how food trust is nego-
tiated in present day prisons. Her findings show that trust in prisoners
who work in the kitchen, and trust in external actors such as food
control bodies or religious representatives, can facilitate a negotiation
of trust. Furthermore, the importance of respecting religious and cul-
tural norms is a second aspect of establishing a climate of food trust.
After the discussion of the prison food scholarship in Belgium, we move
to a study on female prisoners' experiences in Danish penitentiaries.
Social scientists Minke and Smoyer investigate how food is used to
construct hygge in correctional settings. Their results suggest that
hygge practices have the potential to improve women's sense of safety
during incarceration. We then continue to the Balkan region with a
study from criminologist and social work scientist Simanovic, and
*
Corresponding author.
Appetite 147 (2020) 104514
environmental scientist Gosev, who provide an overview of the prison
systems in the Balkan region through the lens of food. To our knowl-
edge, this is the first meaningful academic study of prison foodways
from this region.
In the last decennia, UK and USA based scholars developed an
elaborated understanding on the role of prison food in detention. In this
part of the thematic issue, we build on previous understandings to in-
crease our knowledge on prison foodways. Devine-Wright, an en-
vironmental psychologist, forensic psychologist Meek, and prison
health promotion specialist Baybutt explore, not the consumption, but
rather the production, of agriculture and horticulture in the prison
system in England and Wales. The article considers how food produc-
tion shaped the prison system as well as was shaped by it; the authors
show how commercial and small-scale gardening projects have ther-
apeutic benefits for prisoners. Sociologist Parsons explores how ev-
eryday foodways in prison can be used to counter dehumanisation and
threats to the self. We end our thematic issue with the work of historian
Van Hagen on death row meals in the U.S.A. She concludes that last
meals on death row possess powerful cultural and psychological
meanings.
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Dr. An-Sofie Vanhouchea,*, Prof. Dr. Kristel Beyensb
a
Postdoctoral Researcher at the Crime and Society Research Group of Vrije
Universiteit Brussel, Plenlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
b
Professor of Penology and Criminology at the Criminology Department,
Research Group Crime & Society of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Plenlaan
2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
E-mail addresses: An-Sofie.Vanhouche@vub.be (A.-S. Vanhouche),
Kristel.Beyens@vub.be (K. Beyens).