Liberty Kitchen is a

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ha ...

based at

HM Prison Pentonville HM Prison Pentonville (informally "The Ville") is an English Category B men's prison, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Pentonville Prison is not in Pentonville, but is located further north, on the Caledonian Road in the Barnsbury ar ...

, London. It exists to train prisoners in high-quality food preparation, and to employ ex-prisoners to sell this food at

street markets A marketplace, market place, or just market, is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from ...

. Its intention is to open up opportunities to the men, including qualifications and the possibility of self-employment, and thus reduce

recidivism Recidivism (; from 'recurring', derived from 'again' and 'to fall') is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been trained to Extinction (psycholo ...

. Liberty Kitchen launched in 2016.

Seed funding Seed money, also known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor puts capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' suggests ...

was provided by, among others, the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

and the Drapers' Company, one of the ancient

livery companies A livery company is a type of guild or professional association that originated in medieval times in London, England. Livery companies comprise London's ancient and modern trade associations and guilds, almost all of which are Style (form of a ...

of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. Its board is chaired by

Lord Falconer Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, (born 19 November 1951) is a British Labour politician, peer and barrister who served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2003 to 20 ...

, and also includes

Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks Edward Peter Lawless Faulks, Baron Faulks, KC (born 19 August 1950), is an English barrister and unaffiliated peer who is the current Chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Formerly a Conservative peer, he was Mini ...

QC and the editor of ''Delicious'', Karen Barnes. Its patrons are

Iqbal Wahhab Iqbal Wahhab (; born 22 August 1963) is a Bangladeshi-born British businessman. He is the founder of '' Tandoori Magazine'', and restaurants The Cinnamon Club and Roast. Background and career Wahhab was born in East Pakistan, (now Bangladesh) a ...

and Gina Moffat, and its founder-director is Janet Boston. Liberty Kitchen offers prisoners a 12-week programme leading to an

NVQ National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) are practical work-based awards in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland that are achieved through training and assessment. The regulatory framework supporting NVQs was withdrawn in 2015 and replaced by th ...

(National Vocational Qualification) in enterprise. The menu is centred on creative reinterpretations of

meatballs A meatball is ground meat (mince) rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, egg (food), eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. ...

, 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 A ball and chain (also known as leg irons) is a physical restraint device historically used to bind prisoners of both adolescent and adult ages. Their use was prevalent in the Americas.Charles N.Pede, "DISCIPLINE Rather Than JUSTICE: Courts-Mar ...

) includes a vegetarian ball made of

broad beans ''Vicia faba'', commonly known as the broad bean, fava bean, or faba bean, is a species of vetch, a flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated as a crop for human consumption, and also as a cover crop. Vari ...

, named

Green Lanes Green Lanes may refer to: *A green lane (road), a type of road, usually an unpaved rural route. *Green Lanes (London), a major road running through north London *Harringay, a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Haringey The London Borough of ...

after the Turkish area of North London. Liberty Kitchen was singled out for positive mention in the 2018 report of the Independent Monitoring Board, whose job it is to monitor the welfare of prisoners. It won "Best Streetfood/Takeaway" at the 2019 BBC Food and Farming Awards and so was featured on BBC Radio 4 ''

The Food Programme ''The Food Programme'' is a BBC Radio 4 programme investigating and celebrating good food, founded by Derek Macdonald Cooper, Derek Cooper and currently presented by Sheila Dillon, Dan Saladino, Leyla Kazim and Jaega Wise. The series is produce ...

''. 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 Corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate social impact is a form of international private business industry self-regulation, self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropy, philanthropic, activist, or chari ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
2016 establishments in England Organizations established in 2016 Catering and food service companies of the United Kingdom Prison restaurants Social enterprises

See also

References

External links