Vridsløselille: Restaurant behind bars
Melting Pot Foundation Denmark embarks on a prison project
In 2012, one of Melting Pot Foundation’s first initiatives was to partner with the Danish prison service. Our goal: to build a better path toward resocialization through culinary craftsmanship and unconditional hospitality.
Lead by Meyers Madhus, a cooking school was launched within the walls of the Danish maximum-security prison, Vridsløselille. In just eight weeks, inmates were taught to prepare an eight-course menu rivaling Michelin standards, and over the next three years the program bore remarkable results. Two hundred inmates graduated from the program and several found gainful employment as a direct result of their involvement.
Through empowering education and vocational training, the project not only impacted the lives of inmates but also led to the initiation of other transformative initiatives within the prison walls, including vegetable garden planting and father-and-child baking classes. The project caught the attention of Denmark’s national television company, DR, who subsequently filmed a documentary named Restaurant Behind Bars.
Culinary transformation in Vridsløselille Prison in figures
233 inmates started the EUD* course Food for People between 2012-2015
81 students took the EUD exam and passed
10.0 (B) was the average grade achieved by graduates
19 restaurant evenings were held for guests from outside the prison
The project spawned other smaller projects, such as vegetable growing and honey production in Vridsløselille as well as father-and-child baking classes, and various business mentoring schemes were launched
The Danish DR documentary Restaurant Behind Bars depicted the project
*EUD is equal to the first three months’ basic training (module 1) on the official Chef’s Training Program at Erhvervsskolen Nordsjælland, one of Denmark’s official culinary schools.