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A review by anya_reading
Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories from Behind Bars by Clifton Collins, Alvarez, Gustavo "Goose" Alvarez
4.0
Prompt: Read a food book about a cuisine you’ve never tried before
A fellow reader on the ReadHarder 2020 Facebook Group shared that they were reading this book for the above prompt, and I had originally taken out a book about Catalan cooking from the library, but after reading Prison Noir last year, my interest in prison food led to checking out this ebook from my local library instead (sorry, Catalonia!).
Is every recipe in Prison Ramen actually ramen-related? No, though about 90% of them have ramen in there (especially chili flavored ramen - now I want to pick up a pack to see what I'm missing).
I enjoyed that Prison Ramen wasn't your typical glossy-photographed foodie book, gushing about this or that food, or - at worst - basically a glorified food blog post (I think most of you know the trope by now - tons of exposition for a mediocre recipe). There was a short blurb about prison life or getting put in the holding cell, and then a recipe. I was quite surprised at how innovative some of these recipes were - and some of them actually sounded pretty good to me, as a person who loves salty foods (most recipes featured ramen - seasoning packets and all; squeezable cheese; summer sausage, etc.). My favorite recipe in the book was the PB & Plátano Sandwich Spread - I would totally try a sandwich with peanut butter, banana, honey, and M&M's in there. Yeah!
For those who are wondering, there's even a prison hooch recipe in here - when I saw what it was made of, I nearly gagged! All in all, there were many similar themes in this cookbook that were also in Prison Noir: riots, inhumanity, and trying to stay sane and human in the face of it all. I enjoyed hearing the perspectives of the former inmates, though some of the voices (the celebrities) I'm not sure why they were included in here - I think a lesser-known convict would have been just as fine to include, to help folks with marginalized voices be heard - but so be it, I'm sure that's part of the appeal for some of the folks who picked up this book.
A fellow reader on the ReadHarder 2020 Facebook Group shared that they were reading this book for the above prompt, and I had originally taken out a book about Catalan cooking from the library, but after reading Prison Noir last year, my interest in prison food led to checking out this ebook from my local library instead (sorry, Catalonia!).
Is every recipe in Prison Ramen actually ramen-related? No, though about 90% of them have ramen in there (especially chili flavored ramen - now I want to pick up a pack to see what I'm missing).
I enjoyed that Prison Ramen wasn't your typical glossy-photographed foodie book, gushing about this or that food, or - at worst - basically a glorified food blog post (I think most of you know the trope by now - tons of exposition for a mediocre recipe). There was a short blurb about prison life or getting put in the holding cell, and then a recipe. I was quite surprised at how innovative some of these recipes were - and some of them actually sounded pretty good to me, as a person who loves salty foods (most recipes featured ramen - seasoning packets and all; squeezable cheese; summer sausage, etc.). My favorite recipe in the book was the PB & Plátano Sandwich Spread - I would totally try a sandwich with peanut butter, banana, honey, and M&M's in there. Yeah!
For those who are wondering, there's even a prison hooch recipe in here - when I saw what it was made of, I nearly gagged! All in all, there were many similar themes in this cookbook that were also in Prison Noir: riots, inhumanity, and trying to stay sane and human in the face of it all. I enjoyed hearing the perspectives of the former inmates, though some of the voices (the celebrities) I'm not sure why they were included in here - I think a lesser-known convict would have been just as fine to include, to help folks with marginalized voices be heard - but so be it, I'm sure that's part of the appeal for some of the folks who picked up this book.