I think we should do away with capital punishment, and instead give people life in prison with a daily ration of only this loaf as their main meal.

I think this loaf--in any of it's various permutations-- might prove to be the greatest crime deterrent.


A Beef About Jail's Loaf
By Paul Farhi
THE WASHINGTON POST

December 23, 2002

Fairfax, Va. - It's the color of burned crankcase fluid, with the texture of Martian topography. Its name isn't going to make you want to sit down for a heapin' helpin', either. At the Fairfax County jail, where this compacted concoction of vegetables, nondairy cheese and other stuff is on the menu, it's known simply as The Loaf.

John Lee Malvo, the 17-year-old sniper suspect, has a beef about The Loaf.

Malvo's court-appointed guardian, Todd G. Petit, formally complained last week that The Loaf, served to Malvo three times a day at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, is causing his ward diarrhea, bloating and other health problems. Petit wants some other kind of meatless meals provided to Malvo, a vegetarian.

County officials point out that Petit himself requested The Loaf for Malvo. Unless told otherwise by a court, county officers say they're not whipping up anything special for a youth suspected in the murders of 14 people.

Friday, in what was either a brilliant public relations gambit or a fiendish bit of spite, Sheriff Stan Barry had the media in for Loaf.

Barry acknowledged that the oily, brown, brick-shaped Loaf is "unappealing to the eye." But he insisted, "When you first taste it, you're very pleasantly surprised. You say, 'That's not as bad as I thought it would be.' "

Barry cut a slice with a plastic knife, lifted fork to mouth ... and winced.

"I knew there were going to be a lot of things I had to do in this job that wouldn't be enjoyable," he admitted. "Eating The Loaf in front of witnesses wasn't one of them."

Barry called The Loaf "not very tasty, but it's very nutritious and healthy for you." In fact, he says, his jail is serving the New, Improved Loaf.

The original recipe, which Fairfax got from a federal prison kitchen, produced a dish so "ghastly" that Barry and his men were unable to swallow it. So jailhouse chefs doctored it a bit, adding sugar to sweeten it.

The Loaf is known in jail parlance as a "disciplinary meal," meaning it's served to unruly prisoners as punishment for their misbehavior. Loaves have become a popular form of discipline in lockups across the country and have prompted some lawsuits.

In Pennsylvania prisons, a breakfast loaf contains prunes, eggs, toast, hash browns, bacon and orange juice. Texas calls its version food loaf, made up of the previous day's leftovers. The New York State prison system's recipe calls for flour, milk, sugar, carrots and potatoes.

Passersby who sampled The Loaf outside The Washington Post's offices had more trouble with its appearance than its taste.

One woman, a teacher, commented that it didn't sound like anything she hadn't eaten in school cafeterias.

Post Food section staff writer Walter Nicholls offered a professional assessment: "It's dry and plastic-looking ... There's not a lot of flavor, but it's not offensive. It's almost like a vegetable dessert spread. It's not bad, but it's not food."

An Alternative to Fruitcake?

The Fairfax County, Va., Adult Detention Center's recipe for The Loaf

120 slices of wheat bread

25 cups grated nondairy cheese

10 cups raisins

4 cups vegetable oil

15 cups grated carrots

15 cups well-drained spinach

60 cups vegetarian beans

8 cups tomato puree

15 cups nondairy powdered milk

12 cups instant potatoes

1 pound brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1. Mix

2. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes.

Makes 60 servings.
Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc. http://www.newsday.com

I don't have much sympathy with prisoners, but frankly this sounds like a very "cruel and unusual punishment" to me.

And what on earth are "non-dairy cheese" and "vegetarian beans"?

Non-dairy cheese is probably made from soy rather than milk. I would guess that vegetarian beans are simply beans which have been cooked without the addition of any meat, meat broth or meat fat, and without any other animal products as well. All beans are "vegetarian" to begin with, but how you cook them might alter that status.

As long as it is nutritous, why should their food be of gourmet quality? There are millions of people who have never committed a crime in their lives that are starving and would welcome "The Loaf" no matter how bad it might taste, simply to have food in their stomachs.

It really bugs me when people commit horrid crimes and then expect a cushy life in prison with gourmet tasting food, extra soft beds etc. If life in prison would be made so wonderful, I can see how some people who are facing extremely tough times might think about or even do things to get into prison where they would at least have a good meal, soft bed, etc. Prison is for punishment - it shouldn't be a great place to be.

He should have to eat my mother-in-laws cooking!! Now THAT is cruel and unusual punishment.

It's probably not that bad.

I used to work in industrial kitchens, a central kitchen for the university restaurant complexes. We had some vegetarian groups, like Friends of the River visit and order large meals.
The cook I worked for shoved this recipe for hummus for 500 people into my hands and it was a riot...then said I had to taste it!

Never thought I'd survive all those cans of chick peas, squeezing lemons, whew!
It really wasn't that bad.

I agree with Babymoo. There are millions of starving people who would appreciate having the Loaf. Prisoners are in prison to be punished and rehabilitated. I don't think they should be able to make requests on what they get to eat.

It appears that I'm the only person here to disagree with this. Yes, I know, prisons are meant to punish they aren't supposed to be four star hotels. However, I don't think that feeding this to a human being as a form of punishment is a good idea. There is a reason that typically healthy people go into prison and come out diabetic. A vegetarian should be offered an alternative, not a punishment.

Indie, I see your point and I'm not be facetious but believe me - the stuff they feed our military people in some cases ain't much better. I'm sure you've experienced eating mystery meat on at least one occassion but in the military it was a common occurrence. As someone else pointed out, as long as it is nutritious I don't have a problem with it. When someone is in prison because of murder I have little interest in what parts of prison life they don't like--it's still beats the quality of life experienced by over half the planet.

I represent a number of inmates in civil matters and periodically get solicited by inmates seeking to file claims under 42 USC 1983 (8th amendment/"cruel and unusual punishment" grounds) that on such and such a day the food they were served was not prepared in accordance with the dictates of one or another religion. The courts are not strangers to food claims by inmates, and I would suspect that some U.S. District Court in the area either has ruled or will be called upon to rule whether serving this glop does in fact violate the 8th amendment.

The reason the stuff they feed the military isn't much better is, it all comes from the lowest bidder. The same thing occurs in our school cafeterias. The company that bring in the lowest priced food is the one who gets the contract. The quality of the food is often horrible. I'm not a big supporter of the military, but if anyone deserves to be fed better quality food, it's military personnel. Oh, for those of you who are wondering where I come up with this stuff, no I didn't pull it out of my hat (or the lower regions either), it came from a book called "Fast Food Nation." Read it if you want a real eye opener.

Edited to add: I do care about what prisoners face on a daily basis. Considering how horribly inept our justice system has proven to be, many of them are innocent and don't deserve to be there. Considering also that they are still human and deserve to be treated as such. Yes, punishment is part of the incarceration process, but so is rehabilitation. How can we rehabilitate someone while treating them worse than a dog?

I feel like if the school cafeterias can serve horrible food and the kids have to deal with it, and the military serves horrible food and the people in the military have to deal with it (while defending our country, no less) then prisoners shouldn't get to have better quality food.

School isn't an option - kids have to go. Sometimes the military isn't an option - if there is a draft. Even if it is a person's choice to go into the military, he/she is defending our freedom, and still has to eat gross food made by the lowest bidder. Prison IS an option. You can choose to do wrong and take the risk of prison, or you can choose to do right and stay out of prison. There aren't too many people who can say they are unaware of the stories of bad food, hard cots, etc of prison. Maybe it is somthing they should consider before committing a crime that could land them in prison.

Maybe "The Loaf" is unappealing, but I don't see how feeding them something nutritious is treating them like dogs.

I think that all three need to be overhauled. The quality of food served to our children and our military personnel is the lowest quality available. Not to split hairs, but in United States, military service is optional. With the high rate of wrongful convictions in this country, jail time is not always optional. I've looked over this recipe several times and I stand by what I said. I wouldn't feed that stuff to my dog. I won't go too far into the horrible things that happen in our prisons, but I stand by my previous comments.