Recipes for resistance and abolition: crafting culinary discourse while incarcerated

Abstract

A recipe can function as a list of ingredients and instructions, a method of preserving traditions, and a historical record. These guidelines for cooking particular foods can reveal a longing for the past, using flavors and materials to conjure up memories of people and places, and a sense of possibility, suggesting the potential to achieve something that is currently out of reach. Cookbooks comprised of recipes written by incarcerated individuals work in all of these ways – simultaneously serving as reminders of the oppression people face in carceral spaces, demonstrating their ability to improvise, and reflecting their commitment to resist the State. In this paper, I examine incarcerated food writers’ cookbooks, looking specifically at their content and design choices, including specific themes and topics, photographs and art, and types of food. By highlighting their personal experiences with cooking, eating, and writing, imprisoned individuals have begun to create a distinct culinary discourse. Their cookbooks and recipes operate as pedagogies of resistance that can be employed as tools to imagine abolitionist possibilities. Sharing these texts will amplify the voices of incarcerated food writers and foreground everyday moments of freedom building.