Prison Food

An-Sofie Vanhouche holds a PhD in Criminology and is Assistant Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Criminology and research group Crime & Society, Belgium. She teaches several courses on penology to undergraduates and imprisoned learners. Her research interests lie in the lived experience of imprisonment, prison foodways, and comparative penology.

• Part 1: The Symbolic Role of Food.- 1: Introduction and Literature Overview.- 2: On Water and Bread: A Historical Overview of the Symbolic Role of Prison Food in Belgium.- Part 2: Belgian Prison Foodways: Present Day Policies and Experiences.- 3: Belgian Prisons and its Foodways.- 4: Normalization and Identity Construction Through Food.- 5: Cooking in Prison & Prisoners’ Feelings of Security.- Part 3: A Discussion of the Results.- 6: Self-Catering. International Examples and New Developments in Belgium.- 7: Conclusion.