“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster ...”
Thus starts Martin Scorsese’s visceral crime saga, Goodfellas. The movie is notable for many reasons, not least of which is, it contains arguably the best ‘cooking in prison’ scene in celluloid history.
Holed up on ‘Gangster Row’ in the early seventies, Henry Hill, Paulie and their cohorts admittedly don’t suffer much in the way of privations, as they more or less run the prison. Every night they get together and cook - pasta and a meat course - each man handling a different aspect of the operation, like a well-run restaurant kitchen.
The scene is possibly the most positive in the film, as we watch these violent and dangerous men work together peacefully and good-humouredly prepare a meal they will all share. Via food, and their shared love of food, they are humanised. They are shown to care.
Goodfellas was based on the memoirs of reformed gangster, Henry Hill, and he has spoken of it being 95-99% accurate. To what extent we should believe this statement is open to question, but the scene has a certain verisimilitude, and Hill went on to become a chef, so his love of food is not up for debate. He tells of fabulous produce smuggled in by Rabbis and Priests and, tellingly, he states that life in prison wasn’t too bad, except that it cost between $2000 and $3000 per month to keep them in fresh food, wine and spirits.
It would seem that prison in this instance provides a microcosm of the outside world, inasmuch as the rich and powerful can afford to pay for all the joys that good eating can bring.
This provides an interesting context for a recent episode at the UN International Criminal Court detention centre in Scheveningen.
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor - being held on a charge of crimes against humanity - declared prison food to be an abomination and organised a cooking club. His views were echoed by detained Serbian war criminal, Vojislav Seselji, who, with a blistering disregard for irony declared prison food to be a ‘daily torture’.
Both men could afford to buy decent food and enjoy the luxury of cooking it themselves, but I would like to suggest that that should be a right, not a luxury.
To commit crime is undoubtedly an antisocial act, but to deprive people of their liberty is also an antisocial act. If criminals are to have any chance of rehabilitation, we have to recognise and give them a chance to reconnect with their cultural communities. The preparation of food, from growing of produce and tending of livestock, through to cooking, eating and sharing is surely a way to do this. And this should be available to all, not just the violent, psychopathic, but above all, wealthy.
- Goodfellas (1990) Directed by Martin Scorsese [DVD]. Los Angeles: Warner Brothers Inc.
- Hill, H. (2004) ‘The Workaday Gangster’. Interviewed by J. Kaplan. Goodfellas [DVD]. Los Angeles: Warner Brothers Inc.
- Verduijin, G. (2011) ‘War Crimes Suspects ‘Tortured’ By Prison Food’, 11 November, all Africa [Online]. Available at: http://allafrica.com/stories/201111120170.html (Accessed: 14 November 2011)
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