Liberty Kitchen

Last updated

Liberty Kitchen is a social enterprise based at HM Prison Pentonville, London. It exists to train prisoners in high-quality food preparation, and to employ ex-prisoners to sell this food at street markets. Its intention is to open up opportunities to the men, including qualifications and the possibility of self-employment, and thus reduce recidivism.

Contents

Liberty Kitchen launched in 2016. [1] Seed funding was provided by, among others, the Royal Society of Arts [2] and the Drapers' Company, one of the ancient livery companies of the City of London. [3] Its board is chaired by Lord Falconer, [4] and also includes Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks QC and the editor of Delicious, Karen Barnes. Its patrons are Iqbal Wahhab and Gina Moffat, [5] and its founder-director is Janet Boston. [6]

Liberty Kitchen offers prisoners a 12-week programme leading to an NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) in enterprise. [7] The menu is centred on creative reinterpretations of meatballs, drawing on the prisoners' backgrounds for culinary ideas and London places for names. For example, the "Ball No Chain" range (referring to the idiom Ball and chain) includes a vegetarian ball made of broad beans, named Green Lanes after the Turkish area of North London. [8] Liberty Kitchen was singled out for positive mention in the 2018 report of the Independent Monitoring Board, [9] whose job it is to monitor the welfare of prisoners.

It won "Best Streetfood/Takeaway" at the 2019 BBC Food and Farming Awards [10] and so was featured on BBC Radio 4 The Food Programme . In addition to street food, Liberty Kitchen caters for events; one company hired them for a staff lunch, describing this as a form of corporate social responsibility. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

Jamie Oliver British chef and restauranteur

Jamie Trevor Oliver is a British chef and restaurateur. He is known for his approachable cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants.

J D Wetherspoon plc is a pub company based in Watford, England, operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Founded in 1979 by Tim Martin, the company operates nearly 900 pubs, including the chain of Lloyds No.1 bars, and a growing number of Wetherspoon hotels. Wetherspoon is known for converting unconventional premises into pubs. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

HM Prison Pentonville

HM Prison Pentonville is an English Category B men's prison, operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service. Pentonville Prison is not in Pentonville, but is located further north, on the Caledonian Road in the Barnsbury area of the London Borough of Islington, north London. In 2015 the justice secretary, Michael Gove, described Pentonville as “the most dramatic example of failure” within the prisons estate.

Gordon Ramsay British chef, restaurateur, and television personality

Gordon James Ramsay is a British chef, restaurateur, writer, and television personality. He was born in Johnstone, Scotland, and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. His restaurants have been awarded 16 Michelin stars in total and currently hold a total of seven. His signature restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, London, has held three Michelin stars since 2001. After rising to fame on the British television miniseries Boiling Point in 1998, Ramsay had become one of the best-known and most influential chefs in the UK by 2004.

Raymond Blanc French chef

Raymond Blanc OBE is a French chef. Blanc is the chef patron at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the Good Food Guide. He is entirely self-taught, but has himself taught or employed other chefs including Heston Blumenthal, John Burton-Race, Michael Caines, Paul Liebrandt, and Marco Pierre White.

As with any large town or city, food and drink has played an important role in the commerce and culture of Birmingham, England.

Greggs Bakery chain in the United Kingdom

Greggs plc is a British bakery chain. It specialises in savoury products such as bakes, sausage rolls, sandwiches and sweet items including doughnuts and vanilla slices. It is headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

The Food Programme is a BBC Radio 4 programme investigating and celebrating good food, founded by Derek Cooper and currently presented by Sheila Dillon. Dillon is the normal presenter of the programme, but the programme is, on occasion, presented by Leyla Kazim and Jaega Wise. The series is produced by Dan Saladino, who also reports for the programme and presents some episodes.

Atul Kochhar British restaurateur

Atul Kochhar is an Indian-born, British based chef, restaurateur, and television personality. His unique talent has changed the way people perceive and experience Indian cuisine. Atul was one of the first two Indian chefs to receive a Michelin star, awarded in London in 2001 whilst at Tamarind. His contemporary style and love for traditional cooking led him to open his own restaurant Benares, which won him a second Michelin star in 2007. Since then he has opened numerous successful, award-winning restaurants; Sindhu and Hawkyns in Buckinghamshire and Indian Essence in Kent. In 2018, Atul left Benares to pursue other independent ventures, most recently Kanishka in Mayfair, London which opened March 2019 and another new London site has been announced. Kochhar makes regular appearances on television shows including Saturday Kitchen, Masterchef Goes Large,Great British Menu, BBC2's Million Pound Menu and Saturday Morning with James Martin. Additionally, Atul has written a number of successful cookbooks; Simple Indian; Fish, Indian Style; Curries of the World and 30 Minute Curries.

HM Prison Brixton

HM Prison Brixton is a local men's prison, located in Brixton area of the London Borough of Lambeth, in inner-South London. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.

Fried pickle A snack food made by deep-frying sliced battered dill pickles.

Fried pickles are a snack food found commonly in the Southern U.S. They are made by deep-frying sliced battered dill pickles.

Bryn Dwyfor Williams is a chef originally from Denbigh, Wales. He is the head chef and sole proprietor of Odette's Restaurant, Primrose Hill, London. He shot to fame as merely a sous chef in 2006 by beating established and well-known chefs to cook the fish course for the Queen's 80th birthday celebrations on the television programme Great British Menu. He is now widely regarded as one of Wales' best chefs and one of Britain's new crop of "celebrity" chefs. In June 2015 he opened his new bistro, Bryn@Porth Eirias, on the sea shore in the north Wales town of Colwyn Bay.

Jason Atherton is an English chef and restaurateur. His restaurant Pollen Street Social gained a Michelin Star in 2011, its opening year. He was the Executive Chef at Gordon Ramsay's Michelin starred Maze in London until 30 April 2010. In 2014 he co-hosted the Sky Living TV series My Kitchen Rules.

Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks

Edward Peter Lawless Faulks, Baron Faulks QC, is an English barrister and unaffiliated peer. He was Minister of State for Justice between December 2013 and July 2016 and is the current Chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO).

The Clink (restaurant) Restaurant in the UK

The Clink Restaurant concept was founded by Alberto Crisci in 2009 and are a major part of The Clink Charity's prisoner rehabilitation initiatives. The charity aims to break the cycle of crime by changing attitudes, creating second chances and reducing reoffending rates.

Claudio Aprile is a Uruguayan–Canadian celebrity chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, TV personality and family man of Italian descent best known for serving as a main host/judge on CTV's culinary competition MasterChef Canada since January 2014. Having owned and worked at multiple Michelin-starred restaurants over the years, he recently served as the head chef, owner and manager of the acclaimed Toronto restaurant Copetin from its grand opening in July 2017 until it closure in March 2019. In the fall of 2019, Aprile opened up a new restaurant named Xango Toronto, which he presently serves as the owner, restaurateur and head chef of since the closing of Copetin, Colborne Lane and the Origin chain. He resides in Richmond Hill, Toronto with his wife Heather Aprile and their two children.

Eighteen Chefs is a restaurant chain and franchise company in Singapore based on the principle of social enterprise. The restaurants serve mainly Western cuisine but local food is also found on the menu. As of September 2020, Eighteen Chefs has a total of eleven outlets in Singapore.

Tommy Banks (chef) British chef (born 1989)

Tommy Banks is a British Michelin Star head chef. He owns Michelin-starred The Black Swan at Oldstead, Roots in York, and the premium food box business Made In Oldstead.

Simon Boyle is a British chef, author and social entrepreneur working in Britain. Boyle became a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts in 2017.In 2020 he was awarded special recognition by the Basque Culinary World Prize for his relief work in London during the Covid-19 crisis.

Yasmin Khan is a British author, broadcaster and human rights campaigner. Her work covers food, travel and politics and her critically acclaimed books, The Saffron Tales and Zaitoun, use everyday stories to challenge stereotypes of the Middle East.

References

  1. ↑ "Balls, no chains: This street-food stall is run by prisoners". Evening Standard. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  2. ↑ Boston, Janet. "LIBERTY KITCHEN". Royal Society of Arts. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  3. ↑ "The Drapers' Company - Social Welfare". www.thedrapers.co.uk. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  4. ↑ "A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE LONDON STREET FOOD PROJECT". Amandine. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  5. ↑ "Our Board". www.libertykitchen.org. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  6. ↑ "The Food Programme: An Education: Life lessons through food". BBC Food. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  7. ↑ "This street food scheme trains prisoners as chefs". Time Out London. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  8. ↑ "Liberty Kitchen". KERB - The Best of London Street Food. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  9. ↑ "Stop just locking prisoners up – rehabilitate them, says IMB at HMP Pentonville". Independent Monitoring Boards. 22 August 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  10. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 - Food and Farming Awards - The BBC Food and Farming Awards 2019 Winners". BBC. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  11. ↑ "CSR: Good Vibes are on the Menu with Liberty Kitchen". NKD. 1 November 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.