Tofu soup: how vegans live in prison

Vegans prefer only plant foods and exclude meat, fish, milk, cheeses, eggs, honey and other animal products from their diet. They have no doubt that by their way of life they are saving animals from their exploitation by humans.

The most popular products among vegan residents: soy meat, smoked wheat sausage, tofu, nuts, dried fruits, protein bars, sweets, seasonings. One can only dream of such a menu in the colonies. And then volunteers come to the rescue.

“For several years we have been helping vegan prisoners with food,” says movement activist Marina. “After all, such people are like invisible to the system.” When they go to jail, they essentially have nothing to eat there. I heard that human rights activists have identified the problem of vegan-vegetarian food in prisons, but there is no progress.

— Are prison staff interested in the food preferences of inmates?

“I don’t know whether they ask the inmates about this or not, but the employees are definitely aware that there is a vegan in their institution. They see how they eat. For example, when receiving rations, vegans take only a side dish and refuse meat. If the side dish is mixed with meat products, then they don’t take anything at all.

Volunteers collect a package once a month for those under their care who are serving time in prison. If a person is on a strict regime, then the transfer is scheduled less frequently.

— Relatives of prisoners who don’t understand what to bring their vegan loved ones come to us for advice. Many people have no idea what vegan nutrition is. We immerse people in the topic. One of our charges had no relatives. When he got to the pre-trial detention center, he was very worried about food. Somehow I passed the note to a friend. He told his wife, she conveyed the information to activists.

— How do cellmates treat neighbors with such a worldview?

- There is no negativity. There is even interest in vegans. Our ward, while she was in pre-trial detention, got her neighbor hooked on veganism.

— Do vegans often abandon their principles and agree to eat what they give?

— We couldn’t deliver the package to one girl for a long time; she had to eat cheese and mayonnaise. When the problem was resolved, she returned to veganism. But there are those who cannot be broken. Some limit themselves in food, relying on nuts that are sold in a local store. Those who are serving time under strict regime refuse to go vegan. They are entitled to parcels every six months, there is no time for veganism.

On forums you can find reviews from former prisoners who adhered to a vegan diet. Most of them complained that due to a lack of protein they felt constant weakness, quickly got tired, problems with skin and nails appeared, and heartburn began.

— There was a situation when the guy was not given vegetable protein powder. And vegans need a food supplement because they cannot get vitamins or protein from plant foods. He argued with the administration. He went on a hunger strike for more than a month. They promised to fulfill his demands. He came out of his hunger strike. But nothing has changed.

— Is it expensive for vegans to eat their diet?

- Decent. This is another reason stay-at-home vegans may stray from their principles. A 20-kilogram parcel of vegan products costs approximately 10–15 thousand rubles. In addition, it is not so easy to transfer many products. For example, they are reluctant to take vegetables and fruits. Happiness if you manage to convey tomatoes and cucumbers. But more often we send dried fruits: dried apricots, dried cherries, mangoes, dried strawberries, freeze-dried vegetables, from which you can quickly “steam” soup in boiling water or add them to puree.

“In addition to vegetables and fruits, other products are also rejected,” continues Marina. — For example, in one place they didn’t take our vegan sausage because they thought it would spoil. But this sausage is made from wheat! It doesn't spoil like meat! Somehow they were not allowed to provide vegetable milk, which the prisoner could use to make cocoa or porridge. He cannot eat prison porridge because it is made with cow's milk. But powdered milk is not exactly what you need. In some places, it was forbidden to transfer seasonings, since the sachets could somehow be sealed with drugs. I recently learned that citrus fruits cannot be transferred either, because you can pour vodka into them through a syringe.

Since prison workers for the most part are not familiar with vegan philosophy, they do not understand what it is: “They look at soy meat and are surprised: we have no idea what it is, it is necessary to submit it for examination by the SES so that specialists study the composition of the product. Employees are afraid of getting scolded. Therefore, it is better to refuse to take than to take risks.”

One of the volunteers said that they refused to give him plant-based dairy products. “We don’t even give dairy products to mothers and children,” the institution’s staff stood their ground. FSI employees were not aware that plants are used in the production of vegan milk.

“But the most popular product in prison is bouillon cubes.” It’s like local currency, better than cigarettes,” adds Marina.

Volunteers who help vegans publish letters from prisoners on social networks, from which ideas can be drawn about the diet of plant-based food enthusiasts.

“Funchozu (“glass noodles” made from legumes and starch) and asparagus were soaked in water. I prepared a salad. It turned out to be nonsense. I washed it down with herbal tea.”

“We had a great time, drank tea, protein bars and vegan Napoleon.”

“My New Year’s table is cabbage with ketchup and coffee.”

“I only eat in the morning. Ground coffee throughout the day.”

The mother of one prisoner complained in a letter that no one was carrying packages to her son’s new cellmate, who clarified that he was the rapist. As a result, his son took him under his wing and enticed him to become a vegan. Now the woman is passing on a double portion of vegan products.

One of the vegans shared a story about a vegetarian prisoner, which he heard from his cellmates: “He only ate organic noodles and sunflower oil from the colony store. Moreover, I ate a lot of sunflower oil, almost drank from a bottle. I added it to everything possible in huge quantities. Almost all the bread that I received in the dining room was constantly fried (apparently, this was possible before) in a large amount of oil. It all ended with him being released from further serving his sentence due to health reasons. His blood tests began to resemble symptoms of blood cancer. In freedom, he began to eat more variedly. The condition returned to normal, and the diagnosis of blood cancer was not confirmed. But he remained free, because it is no longer possible to cancel the activation back according to the law. An interesting example of how giving up meat changed a person’s destiny.”

Another vegan, who was placed in a psychiatric hospital, was satisfied with the conditions of his stay: “No one watches or watches what I eat, except for the neighbors who were shocked by my diet. The delivery of products is transferred to a checkpoint, no one checks anything. There is a refrigerator in the hall: homemade food can be stored for a day, other opened food for three days. I keep porridge, muesli, couscous, and snacks in the room. There is a kettle, so you can brew noodles and drink tea. I almost don’t eat canteen food, except for apples, which they give here every day.”

Here's how a prisoner describes the prison menu, taking into account vegan preferences.

“I only take dinner when the side dish is placed separately from the fish. It could be buckwheat, mashed potatoes, vegetable stew, horns, stewed potatoes, millet. On Mondays I don’t take anything, because on this day for dinner we always mix horns with chicken or buckwheat with chicken.

I always skip lunches, everything is mixed up there too. I take compote or jelly as needed.

I skip breakfast. The body is accustomed to doing without breakfast. It’s extremely rare that I can take crushed porridge “Druzhba”. It’s the most delicious, in my opinion.”

The volunteer added that some convicts have adapted to exchanging food: “My ward exchanges cutlets for a side dish.”

“It’s difficult to quickly switch to vegan food in prison,” admitted one of the former inmates. — For breakfast they give us porridge with milk, which we don’t drink. For lunch they always cook soup with meat, the second thing is all mixed up - it is impossible to separate the pasta from the meat. Even if it works, the smell will remain and it makes me sick. If buckwheat and pasta were served separately from animal products, then we could live. I think the dinner is half vegan, since the side dish is served separately and the fish separately. During serving, I asked not to put the fish cutlet in the buckwheat and not to pour gravy over the side dish. I saved a stall where you can buy cereal. Peanuts replaced protein and sunflower oil for me. Mostly I ate bran, barley, oatmeal in boiling water with bread. After a couple of weeks I could no longer look at these products.

After their release, former vegan prisoners describe their life in blogs. One man confessed that in two months he lost 8 kg on a vegan menu. I ate Chinese noodles, mashed potatoes, cereals and nuts. All this time, his stomach hurt, he suffered from bouts of heartburn, and began to have problems with bowel movements. “There are two options: abandon the principles or ruin your stomach with fast food,” the author concluded.

Here's what a vegan transfer basket roughly looks like.

• Soy products: soy meat, tofu (compressed bean curd with no soy flavor and high protein content), tempeh (a soybean product), soy milk.

• Canned legumes: beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas.

• Seeds: sesame and dairy-free tahini (sesame paste), chia, flax.

• Nuts: almonds and Brazil nuts.

• Pekmez (berry or fruit juice without sugar) with sesame seeds.