Efrain Paniagua-Villa, 28, picks up drinks to serve to guests at a dinner at the Grafton Reintegration Center, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2024, in Grafton, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora Orsagos)
GRAFTON, Ohio (AP) — A state prison in northeast Ohio served the public a five-course meal for the first time in state history, featuring food prepared by inmates from fruits and vegetables grown in the prison garden.
Nearly 60 people dined at Grafton Correctional Institution, where incarcerated men from the prison’s EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute hosted the event in the EDWINS’ Garden and Hope City Garden.
EDWINS, an organization dedicated to prison education, hosted the dinner as part of its cooking course offered in 652 prisons and detention centers across the country. The six-month course provides training to inmates, teaching them cooking techniques, safety and hygiene, knife handling and other skills needed to work in a fine dining restaurant.
“In a figurative sense, we are redefining what is possible in prison,” says chef Brandon Chrostowski.
Chrostowski – a James Beard Award semifinalist and a finalist in the Outstanding Restaurant Owner category – partnered with staff at Grafton Correctional Institution in 2012 to create a course to teach incarcerated men cooking and hospitality.
The program was born out of the belief that “every person, regardless of their past, has the right to a just and equal future,” Chrostowski said.
Bouquets of magenta roses, lilies and other flowers lined a table covered with a white linen cloth. Fresh bread and olive oil were available for each guest. The table was in the middle of the two gardens.
Incarcerated men grow a range of fruits, vegetables and herbs, from parsley to corn and beets.
Greg Sigelmier, 40, an inmate at GCI, says he looks forward to the program every week. He says the course has helped him come out of his shell.
He had initially volunteered to help out in the kitchen at the dinner party because he did not want the guests to see how nervous he was.
After some thought and talking to people close to him, he thought it would be a good idea to challenge himself by doing something he was uncomfortable with. Sigelmier said he is considering working in the industry if he is laid off in a year.
“This could be the rest of my life. And they do this for everyone. They don’t see me as a number. They see me as a person,” Sigelmier said.
The five-course meal began with a beet salad with goat cheese and greens, followed by a kale “portion” with farmer’s cheese. Guests ate seared salmon with béarnaise sauce and braised garden vegetables. This was followed by roasted lamb with Provencal tomatoes. For dessert, there was a corn cake with blueberry compote and whipped cream.
Each course was accompanied by a non-alcoholic cocktail, one of which was called “Botinique” – lemonade with thyme honey syrup and lemon.
The program also requires participants to learn about each other’s work styles and behaviors and helps them build relationships through preparing and sharing meals.
“Working together as a community and enjoying the food at the end is the best thing. You should see the faces of these guys when they just eat the regular chicken noodle soup that we all made together. It’s incredible,” said 28-year-old Efrain Paniagua-Villa.
Before his incarceration, Paniagua-Villa spent a lot of time cooking at home with his mother and sister. He said cooking with his classmates helped him fill the void left when he began his prison sentence 2 1/2 years ago.
According to the organization, the men imprisoned in the EDWINS cooking program at GCI are serving prison sentences ranging from short to life imprisonment and are between 20 and 70 years old.
Some of the men in the EDWINS program will graduate and, upon discharge, will have the opportunity to apply to many restaurants in the Cleveland area.
“A lot 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 teaching the guys how to cook or how to prepare food,” said GCI Supervisor Jerry Spatny. “It’s giving them re-entry-level skills so that when they go home, they can be successful in that environment.”
Greg Sigelmier, 40, speaks to dinner party attendees at the Grafton Reintegration Center in Grafton, Ohio, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora Orsagos)
A sign for Edwins Garden hangs at the Grafton Reintegration Center in Grafton, Ohio, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora Orsagos)
Joshua Freshwater, 53, sprinkles feta cheese on salads during a five-course dinner at the Grafton Reintegration Center, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, in Grafton, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora Orsagos)
Joshua Freshwater, 53, puts feta cheese on salads during a five-course dinner at the Grafton Reintegration Center, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, in Grafton, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora Orsagos)
A sign reads “Hope City Garden” at the Grafton Reintegration Center, where incarcerated men prepare the table for a five-course dinner Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024, in Grafton, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora Orsagos)
Two incarcerated men pour olive oil on a plate during a dinner at the Grafton Reintegration Center in Grafton, Ohio, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora Orsagos)
