With the arrival of the new National Menu, a menu that was sold to us as being “healthy”, the overall quality of beef, fish, poultry, produce, fruit and vegetables has declined dramatically . For example, the beef we are being served often has a filmy texture or is unnaturally soft with bone fragments in it; the shredded chicken is sometimes full of grilse, while the standard piece of bake chicken are these big, massive, unnatural looking things that scream, “super-duper-steroid-induced-chicken-here.” The fish fillets have come in boxes that say, “Not for human consumption/ dolphin use only, “and the breaded fish squares that we are routinely served often consists of a thin lawyer of fish-residue and lots of breading. Our vegetables, just nasty and as overcooked most of the pasta, which is just the opposite of the hard beans that we are generally served.
And then there is the “most important meal of the day, breakfast. This menu does not rotate or change. Every Monday like clockwork we are served two biscuits, plain and pasty- gravy (sometime with meant, more often not), oatmeal and a piece of fruit; on Tuesday a scoop of grits, one piece of sheet-cake and a piece of fruit; on Wednesday two pancakes, a scoop of oatmeal, non-sugar syrup and a piece of fruit; on Thursday a scoop of oatmeal, one piece of sheet-cake and piece of fruit; on Friday two pieces of French-toast (or 4 French toast sticks that equal one piece of bread), a scoop of farina, non-sugar syrup and piece of fruit; and on both Saturday and Sunday, it’s brand flakes that are extra hard and thick (and taste like cardboard), and a piece of sheet cake and a piece of fruit.
While it’s true that an 8-ounce carton of milk does come with each breakfast meal, you will otherwise notice the lack of protein – and don’t let the fruit full you. Bananas, when served, are usually green and not edible; the apples and oranges are cut in half hours in advance of being served (so that inmates wont take them out of the chow hall and make wine hooch with them), and usually end up on our try in a state of decay – either brown, slimy or drained of their juices.
As for the vegan diet that Mr. Ross claims so many inmates are turning to, it includes the following items as a substitute to the regular meal: soy burger, hummus, soy chicken patty, cottage cheese, soy spaghetti sauce, tofu fried rice, soy enchilada, and bbq tofu. And admitingly, some of it can be good (especially the cottage cheese). But in general, like all of the other food post- National Menu, it’s of poor quality and it does not taste good.
Finally, I don’t want to make it sound like we federal prisoners are never served decent food. The fact is, the taste and preparation of each meal largely depends on the time and effort each Cook Supervisor’s wants to put into each meal, but the quality of all food to us in here does remain a problem…it’s generally shit. And while I am aware than many people out there would love to see us prisoners fed only bread and water, keep in mind that most prisoners do come home and not only breed with your daughters, but more and more of us are coming home with health problems that are, in-part, related to a poor diet provided to us by the B.O.P.
Now that is a fact.
Article Appeared @http://www.gorillaconvict.com/2015/10/bureau-of-prisons-national-menu-by-robert-rosso/