P4 Jail food and China

 In Cate’s article, spreads are a way of life.  They help the inmates escape from the confines of the jail.  It is said that the food they are served has enough nutrition for a balanced diet.  My guess is that is just fits the bare minimum.  Their food is bland, so spreads incorporate spices and real flavors.  Spreads represent freedom for them, something that inmates desperately seek.  Spreads are inclusive, and exclusive, they form groups of people who they share their treasure with.  Higher-class members of the jail system, those who are the top dogs, are able to use the best ingredients in their spreads, or to eat them with.  Cate said tortillas are a message of status, only the veterans of the jail, those who run it, are able to use them to eat their food with.  I assume that the lower class members would have to give them their tortillas.  They use their spreads to deviate from the uniform life of jail.  Their food provides something unique.  It if full of flavor, something the standard food lacks.  It makes them exclusive, you only share your spread with your crew, not everyone is privileged enough to eat your tasty spread.  They can only wonder what it tastes like. 

In O’Donnell’s article, food is used as more of means to represent culture.  What you eat in China represents the divide between the North and the South.  It is the split between cattle and fish, the split between the different social classes of the city.  Food symbolizes culture, just as it does in the article about “spread” in jail society.   O’Donnell’s article was more about politics, while Cate’s was about social class and structure.  Despite these differences, on the surface, they were both about food.

I found Cate’s article the most interesting.  Learning about jails, as weird as this may sound, is always fascinating.  One of my favorite movies is “The Shaw Shank Redemption,” which is a prison story.  Hearing what life on the inside was like and how the inmates make it day to day was interesting.  I can also relate to their terrible food.  Sodexo is pretty bad but it probably isn’t as bad as jail food.  With that being said I still like to complain.  In the dining hall I survive by making crazy combinations of food to find something delicious.  This is what they do with the spreads in jail, take the good ingredients and combine them to make something delicious.