Prison Ramen Analysis

Food is an essential part of everyday life; it is a necessity at the basic level of human survival. The reality of food is something much more than a morsel meant to fill the human cavity. It is responsible for fostering close bonds and communities in ways that are generally unheard of. The purest form of food’s ability is often seen within the prison system. In both books, Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories from Behind the Bars and From the Big House to Your House each recount how cooking and eating food together can help to create unforeseen friendships and comfort during the most unfortunate times through different perspectives.

Within Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories from Behind the Bars by Gustavo Alvarez numerous short stories were told

The outside cover was black, matte, and soft like velvet which helped to accentuate the prison font and bowl of Ramen that was displayed on the front cover. The inside had rough pages and detailed pictures and elements that helped enhance each story and recipe. This display of soft and hard elements described a story in and of itself while also drawing in it’s readers with it’s unique layout and design details.

One major concept in Prison Ramen is how essentially all the recipes revolve around Ramen. The reason why Ramen is so important, is because it is the most filling base the inmates can use at a relatively affordable cost in prison. The versatile nature of Ramen provides inmates the ability to create home-style spreads in unique and innovating ways. The freedom of creating their own dishes offers the inmates an outlet for making prison more bearable while also providing them with a connection to their lives

This is done in order to attract an audience that would normally be tentative about trying any type of prison food. Another feature within this cookbook that is meant to ensure the readers will enjoy the countless spreads is the addition of the quirky upbeat terms such as, “just like mom makes!” and “yummy!” that follow each instruction on how to make the recipe.

Unlike the Prison Ramen cookbook, the layout and design is more personal and sentimental. This is due to the hand drawn cover and images inside the cookbook as well as the personal picture of each inmate that created it on the back cover. The inside design is set up just like an average cookbook with a table of contents followed by the different cooking and baking sections. Although this cookbook isn’t as glamorized and hard looking as Prison Ramen it connects to the reader in a more intimate way, by appearing as though it came straight from the hands of the inmates