H-UNIT’S POPULAR COOKING PROGRAM TURNING UP THE HEAT AGAIN AFTER TWO-YEAR COVID PAUSE
The head chef inspected the knife work of his sous chefs, checking to make sure the mint was minced finely enough and the onions were all diced the same size. The kitchen bustled with activity — everything from cooking handmade pasta from Naples, Italy, to slicing fresh green beans for the traditional Nicoise salad, to carefully folding the prosciutto ham and basil leaves to garnish the melon fruit salad.
Appetizing aromas filled the kitchen, a preview of the three-course meal under preparation.
While you might think this scene was from a fine-dining restaurant at an upscale location, it was taking place in H-Unit’s cafeteria kitchen as part of San Quentin Cooks. The popular program is finally back up and running again after a two-year pause due to the pandemic. No one is happier about this than the new cohort of students.
“Before I was incarcerated, I was cooking every morning,” said deaf student Matthew Hamm through a translator as he paused from slicing garlic cloves. “Now, I feel like I’m getting my muscle memory back, my identify back, that feeling of being a whole person again, of being a human again. It’s a little taste of freedom and it helps get me ready to go back home.”
Student Willie Alarcon recalled that he almost cried when he was slicing ripe mangos during the first class. It was the first time in five years he had eaten the distinctive tropical fruit.
“I’m broadening my horizons and expanding my repertoire. I’ve learned quite a bit. I’m picking up so much,” said Crawford, another student.
Crawford explained that on the outside he had to create his own jobs because nobody wanted to hire him because of his criminal record. He said he can’t wait to apply the new skills and recipes he’s learning to help restart his soul-food catering business when he gets out. Crawford gave credit to the program’s volunteers.
SQ Cooks is a nonprofit organization with a small budget for ingredients, but all of the instructors are volunteers.
One of those volunteers is Adelaar, the head chef for the class, who has decades of experience in the restaurant industry. Besides running a diversity of fine-dining restaurants ― everything from American, French, Italian and even Oaxacan cuisine ― Adelaar now works at a chefs’ supply warehouse.
His passion for cooking and teaching is clear as he circles around the kitchen, giving tips and encouragement to his incarcerated students.
“I think that for me, not cooking professionally anymore, this really scratches that itch,” Adelaar said. “We treat this just like a real restaurant. And I love seeing the guys grow. Seeing the progression in their skills is really, really fun.”
One such student is Vinh Chung, who said he is going to surprise his family when he comes home because he never cooked before and was never in the kitchen. Yet now he already has expert chopping skills, which were on display as he minced the fresh peppermint.
“He got the magic tongue,” said student Raymoan Powe about Adelaar’s sense of taste. “It’s amazing how just a little bit more salt or a little bit of this or that can make all the flavors pop. I got my notebook out, writing everything down I’m planning on putting to use for my family; especially all the vinaigrette sauces he be showing us how to do.”
Another one of the volunteers is Rich, a former chef who now works with Adelaar and helps procure ingredients.
“I love doing stuff like this,” Rich said. “I know good food and what it can do for you and how good you feel after eating it, so when the opportunity came up through Adelaar, I jumped into it.”
Part of the secret to fine cooking is having top-quality ingredients, which were on display at SQ Cooks. On the menu for the day were traditional Italian spaghetti Bolognese topped with burrata cheese, along with the melon salad and the Nicoise made from tuna, blanched green beans, heirloom tomatoes, cooked baby potatoes, olives, and dressed with homemade vinaigrette infused with fresh herbs and shallots.
“Now I know you gotta buy the good ingredients if you want the good flavors,” Powe said.
Adelaar teaches them the importance of professional plating, too.
“Imagine guys, that we’re doing a catering. We’re going to plate, but at the last minute we’re going to set it with the herbs and prosciutto,” Adelaar said about the melon salad as he drizzled a sample plate with high-grade “finishing” olive oil. “Remember, you eat with your eyes,” he added.
“Y’all be really challenging my palate,” said student Steve Warren. “Food is never going to be the same for me — the vibe, the colors, the smells, the flavors, the aesthetic. It’s like a rave in your mouth! Now I understand what quality really means.”
Warren and Powe talked about how it would be great if The Q can get a healthy grocery program going as San Quentin transforms into a rehabilitation center. They emphasized the need for residents to access more healthy food, observing that if SQ Cooks can make such fine meals in H-Unit’s kitchen, then the institution can, too.
Hannah, a first-year volunteer who worked at the world-famous Chez Panisse in Berkeley, agreed with their sentiment.
“Prisons and hospitals are places where nutrition should be the most important, but it’s the last places to get the attention and the funding for good food. That’s so weird to me,” she said.
As the three-hour class came to close, the students sat down with the program’s volunteers to enjoy the fine meal they had created together — a meal full of color, flavor, nutrition and a taste of hope.
