title: Cooking in prison--from crook to cook.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse the principle and practice of self-catering system in a Danish prison. Self-catering is a reflection of the Danish correctional principle of normalisation between prison and community life. Unlike some other jurisdiction, issues of control in meal preparation are subordinate to prisoners' right to choose and prepare their own food.
  
  
  METHODS
  Findings are derived from 13 months of ethnographic fieldwork in a Danish maximum security prison for men, including in-depth interviews with 68 prisoners.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall findings showed that thinking about meals and their preparation is time consuming for prisoners who tend to be positive about the system making connections with their ability to exercise responsibility for making healthily choices. The research concludes that prisoners' possibility for developing cooking competences during incarceration could support prisoners change in social identity from crook to cook.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Food is a fundamental need and the ability to choose what to eat and to prepare one's own food should be a right for all people, including prisoners. This research shows that Danish prisoners are very pleased about the system of self-catering. Most prisoners are concerned about preparing their own meals according to their taste and cultural diversity. If the prison offers the opportunity to train as a chef during imprisonment it could support the prisoner's change in social identity from crook to cook on the outside.
authors.affiliation: Linda Kjaer Minke is an Associate Professor, based at Department of Law, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kjaer Minke
mesh_terms: D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D003296:Cooking / Q000379:methods*; D003718:Denmark; D004032:Diet; D006801:Humans; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D011330:Prisons / Q000458:organization & administration*
keywords: Food; Prison; Prisoners; Qualitative research; Rehabilitation; Self-catering