Liberty Kitchen is a

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ca ...

based at

HM Prison Pentonville HM Prison Pentonville (informally "The Ville") is an English Category B men's prison, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Pentonville Prison is not in Pentonville, but is located further north, on the Caledonian Road in the Barnsbury area ...

, London. It exists to train prisoners in high-quality food preparation, and to employ ex-prisoners to sell this food at street markets. Its intention is to open up opportunities to the men, including qualifications and the possibility of self-employment, and thus reduce recidivism. Liberty Kitchen launched in 2016.

Seed funding Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' su ...

was provided by, among others, the Royal Society of Arts and the

Drapers' Company The Worshipful Company of Drapers is one of the 110 livery companies of the City of London. It has the formal name The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Dr ...

, one of the ancient livery companies of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. Its board is chaired by

Lord Falconer Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, (born 19 November 1951) is a British Labour peer and barrister who served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2003 to 2007. Born in ...

, and also includes

Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks Edward Peter Lawless Faulks, Baron Faulks, KC (born 19 August 1950), is an English barrister and unaffiliated peer who is the current Chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Formerly a Conservative peer, he was Mini ...

QC and the editor of ''Delicious'', Karen Barnes. Its patrons are

Iqbal Wahhab Iqbal Wahhab, OBE ( bn, ইকবাল ওয়াহাব; born 22 August 1963) is a Bangladeshi-born British businessman. He is the founder of '' Tandoori Magazine'', and restaurants The Cinnamon Club and Roast. Background and career Wahh ...

and Gina Moffat, and its founder-director is Janet Boston. Liberty Kitchen offers prisoners a 12-week programme leading to an

NVQ National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) are practical work-based awards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that are achieved through assessment and training. The regulatory framework supporting NVQs was withdrawn in 2015 and replaced by the ...

(National Vocational Qualification) in enterprise. The menu is centred on creative reinterpretations of meatballs, drawing on the prisoners' backgrounds for culinary ideas and London places for names. For example, the "Ball No Chain" range (referring to the idiom

Ball and chain A ball and chain is a physical restraint device historically applied to prisoners, primarily in the British Empire and its former colonies, from the 17th century until as late as the mid-20th century. A type of shackle, the ball and chain is ...

) includes a vegetarian ball made of

broad beans ''Vicia faba'', commonly known as the broad bean, fava bean, or faba bean, is a species of vetch, a flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated as a crop for human consumption, and also as a cover crop. Var ...

, named

Green Lanes Green Lanes may refer to: *A green lane (road), a type of road, usually an unpaved rural route. *Green Lanes (London), a major road running through north London * Harringay, a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Haringey The London Borough o ...

after the Turkish area of North London. Liberty Kitchen was singled out for positive mention in the 2018 report of the Independent Monitoring Board, whose job it is to monitor the welfare of prisoners. It won "Best Streetfood/Takeaway" at the 2019 BBC Food and Farming Awards and so was featured on BBC Radio 4 '' The Food Programme''. In addition to street food, Liberty Kitchen caters for events; one company hired them for a staff lunch, describing this as a form of corporate social responsibility.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
2016 establishments in England Organizations established in 2016 Catering and food service companies of the United Kingdom Prison restaurants Social enterprises

See also

References

External links