WARNING! WARNING!
DANGER! DANGER!
This could very well be the worst, most disgusting of the more than 60 Culinary no-no’s I’ve posted.
You are hereby forewarned.
If you continue beyond this point, I am not responsible for any nausea or immediate loss of appetite that might ensue.
This week’s culinary no-no definitely falls under the category of regional cuisine. There are some variations to the recipe depending on where it’s served.
Let’s start with our neighbor to the south, Illinois. The Illinois version uses……..
WARNING! WARNING!
DANGER! DANGER!
This is your final warning, your last chance to turn back.
The Illinois version uses canned spinach, baked beans, tomato paste, margarine, applesauce, bread crumbs, and garlic powder, and mixes them all together until what’s described as a thick paste is formed.
In Vermont, raisins and nondairy cheese are added to the Illinois recipe.
In California, there’s some ground beef, chopped cabbage, diced carrots, cubed potatoes, and whole wheat flour.
All of the ingredients, once molded and folded together are placed in a loafpan and baked.
Here’s what the finished Illinois version looks like....
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Served in some vegan restaurants, this fare is actually far more common in penal institutons where it's called Nutraloaf, or sometimes simply, "the loaf."
Nutraloaf is given to certain prisoners when they act up as a form of behavior modification. That’s doublespeak for punishment. One of the prisoners punished was Samuel LeMaire who filed a lawsuit. LeMaire was served Nutraloaf after he slit a man's throat before going to state prison and attacked his prison guards and fellow prisoners with sharpened poles, human waste, and a homemade knife inside prison. The inmate argued that having to eat Nutraloaf constituted cruel and unusual punishment. A lower court agreed but a higher court did not.
Nutraloaf is intended to be finger food, served on a single sheet of paper without utensils.
Nutraloaf, a product from the cafeteria of the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, is presented by an inmate in South Burlington, Vermont. Nutraloaf is made of whole wheat bread, non-dairy cheese, raw carrots, spinach, seedless raisins, beans, vegetable oil, tomato paste, powdered milk and dehydrated potato flakes. (Photo Credit: Associated Press/Andy Duback)
LeMaire’s 1992 lawsuit isn’t the first or the last to be filed. Inmates have been complaining since the late 70’s about Nutraloaf, and a case involving Vermont prisoners is the most recent to go to court. Oral arguments were heard in March and a decision is expected by the end of the year.
Watch this video about the Vermont case.
Neil Cavuto of FOX News got this man-on the street......well, actually, it's more like "woman on the street" reaction to Nutraloaf.
And finally, one lawyer serves up Nutraloaf........ at a dinner party. This article also contains more on the legal issues involved.
In and of itself, Nutraloaf is at the top of the list of Culinary no-no's. But when served to unruly, violent prisoners, I have no problem.
To read previous Culinary no-no’s, please click CULINARY NO-NO under my TAGS section.
(SPECIAL NOTE: The inclusion of bikini-clad women in this week's edition was entirely unintentional. It just worked out that way)
