Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories from Behind Bars / Clifton Collins , Gustavo “Goose” Alvarez

RATINGS

Overall: 3.5/ 5 stars

Text Level: Easy

Entertainment: High

Self-Help: Low

Genres: Nonfiction, Cookbook, Prison, Food, Memoir

Page Count: 154

Is this book right for me and my inmate?

Inmates that want to try some new ways to cook using the same ingredients they already have in jail will find this book fun to experiment with.

Buy on: Amazon

Review By: Blackbird (Inmate)

Jailhouse ramen recipes and stories of how some celebrities found themselves Locke up.

Making food as a group is a large part of being incarcerated. It allows you to create a meal of your own design that often offers a lot more flavors of home compared to what the facility chooses to serve. It is a way to bond and doing something as a group. Surprisingly some of the food is really good. When I saw this book I was excited to give it a try and see what tasty recipes were offered.

The recipes submitted in this book are written by current or former inmate and what they cook with can easily be found at most jails or prisons. I really enjoyed the stories they shared along with recipes in this book of how they found out to make the items. There were many celebrities in this book that submitted their own stories of being in jail. The mix of stories about dealing with time in jail and all the food made for a entertaining read. Being currently locked up I could really relate to their stories of life behind bars. Many inmates have very little money so finding ways to combine food and make a dollar stretch is a very useful skill for those of us incarcerated.

My favorite item I tried from this book was the Hitman Burrito. All of the ingredients were easy to get and in the end I was happily full with only a little amount of work. They also had a pretty good broccoli beef recipe. For inmates that have been in prison for a long time a lot of the recipes will he known or second nature. However, if you are new to jail or want to see what other things you can make try this book it is worth it.

Book Quotes

"Take it from someone who knows what he's talking about - you can change your life from wherever you are right now."

"So eat. Simply. Safely. Consciously. It connects you to your humanity."