Ohio prison holds first-ever five-course meal open to public on facility grounds

GRAFTON, Ohio —  A state prison in northeast Ohio says that for the first time in the state’s history, a five-course meal has been served to members of the public with food prepared by incarcerated men from fruits and vegetables grown in the prison garden.

Almost 60 people dined at Grafton Correctional Institution, where incarcerated men in the prison’s EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute hosted the event in two prison gardens: the “EDWINS’ Garden” and “Hope City Garden.”

EDWINS, an organization dedicated to education in prisons, hosted the dinner as part of its culinary course, offered in 652 prisons and jails around the country. The six-month course provides training to incarcerated people, teaching them cooking techniques, safety and sanitation, knife skills and other certifications needed to work in a fine dining establishment.

“Figuratively what is happening is that we’re reframing what’s possible in prison,” said chef Brandon Chrostowski.

Chrostowski — a James Beard Award semifinalist and finalist for Outstanding Restauranteur — formed a partnership with the staff at Grafton Correctional Institution in 2012, and designed a class to teach incarcerated men about culinary arts and hospitality.

The program was born out of the belief that “every human being, regardless of their past, has the right to a fair and equal future,” Chrostowski said.

Bouquets of magenta roses, lilies and other flowers lined a table covered with white linen cloth. Fresh bread and olive oil was set out for each diner. The table was placed in the middle of the two gardens.

Incarcerated men grow a range of fruits, vegetables and herbs ranging from parsley to corn and beets.

Greg Sigelmier, 40, an incarcerated person at GCI, says he looks forward to attending the program every week. He says the class has helped him come out of his shell.

He first signed up to work in the kitchen for the dinner party because he didn’t want guests to see how nervous he was.

After some thought and conversation with others close to him, he thought it would be good to challenge himself by doing something that makes him feel uncomfortable. Sigelmier said he’s considering working in the industry when he is released in a year.

“This could be the rest of my life. And they’re doing this for everybody. They’re not looking at me as a number. They’re looking at me as a person,” Sigelmier said.

The five-course meal began with a beet salad with goat cheese and greens, followed by a kale “purse” with farmer cheese. Guests ate roasted salmon topped with a béarnaise sauce and braised garden greens. Roasted lamb with tomato provencal followed. Dessert included a corn cake with blueberry compote and Chantilly cream.

Each course was paired with a mocktail, one of them named the “botinique” — soda with a thyme-infused honey syrup and lemon.

The program also requires participants to learn each other’s working styles and behaviors, and helps them to build relationships over preparing and sharing a meal.

“Working together as the community that we are and at the end getting to eat the food, it’s the best part. You should see the faces on these guys when they’re eating just the regular chicken noodle soup that we just all worked together. It’s incredible,” 28-year-old Efrain Paniagua-Villa said.

Before his incarceration, Paniagua-Villa said he spent a lot of his time cooking at home with his mother and sister. He said cooking with his classmates has helped fill the gap that was left when he began his stint in prison 2½ years ago.

The incarcerated men in the EDWINS culinary program at GCI are serving a variety of sentences from short to life and range in age from 20 to 70, according to the organization.

Some of the men in the EDWINS program will graduate and have the option to apply to work at many restaurants in the Cleveland area upon their release.

“Many of our guys that live here are going 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 about. It’s not just about teaching guys how to cook or how to prepare food,” said GCI warden Jerry Spatny. “This gives them reentry level skills so that when they go home, they can be successful in that environment.”

Aftoora Orsagos writes for the Associated Press.