Keeping people occupied whilst in detention is an ongoing and never ending task. At Immigration removal centre any form of long term training can be challenging due to unpredictable length of stay, so the choices of activity are even less. Colnbrook IRC has found a solution that keeps some people occupied and thinking ahead. It also passes on some skills and raises morale. It’s called the Cultural Kitchen.

I wanted to know what a cultural kitchen was, how it runs and what its benefits are, so a trip to visit Robbie Clymo at Colnbrook IRC was organised.

Robbie started in the catering industry as a trainee and progressed into the position of managing catering establishments. He then worked at a range of establishments that included a restaurant and hotel. However a career change beckoned so he stepped right out of the hospitality world and joined the YMCA as a support worker. He enjoyed this role for 18 months before the job as a Detainee Custody Officer within Colnbrook IRC was advertised.  This appealed as it would combine the skills he had learnt within the catering industry plus the ones he had acquired as a support worker.

When he had been in the job at Colnbrook for 3 months the role of Training Officer Kitchen became available. Unfortunately the economic climate change and it was decided to downsize the Training department, he was offered to set up and run the Cultural Kitchen. He jumped at the chance.

CR           What is a cultural kitchen?

RC           Because of the nature of the establishment we have many different cultures here. And food is always a defining part of a person’s culture. So we have given the detainees the opportunity to be able to cook the sort of food that their culture has developed and prefers. The room the cooking and eating happens in is known as the Cultural Kitchen.

CR           Where did the idea come from?

RC           Like many good ideas it sprung from a set of conversations between members of staff and the detainees. It gelled in the minds for a while, then the space became available and the project took off. This was about 18 months ago.  At the time I was working as training officer here and they asked me if I would be interested in taking the idea forward. I jumped at the opportunity.

CR           This is a large room, and it’s full of quite expensive equipment. What was the room used for prior to this and how did the budget for the kit come about?

RC           We have a very open mind to this sort of proposal here and once Jim Geen had sorted all the budgetary concerns we were away! Prior to the kitchen being installed this space was a multi faith room; however it was one of several and wasn’t used often. It had also been a games room where people could relax. Its conversion into a kitchen took a while as we had to install the equipment and the correct ventilation.

CR           How does the kitchen work in practice, if a resident wishes to cook a meal for his friends how does he go about it?

RC           We have one morning session and one afternoon session available. Detainees make an application on a printed form for the slot they want; these forms are available from a couple of locations in the centre. Once completed they hand them to me or put them under the kitchen door,  the form asks for the guests they wish to invite, what they wish to cook and the time they would like to book. They can invite anyone they like from any of the five units. They can also invite members of staff. We don’t permit them to bring in anyone from outside.

CR           How do you provide the ingredients?  There must be some very unusual dishes cooked up, and I doubt that the main kitchen here will keep some of the more unusual ingredients.

RC           There are not that many rare items requested, and the basic ingredients are fairly commonplace and often available from the kitchen. The Centre already has to cater for a very wide range of ethnic diets, so there are already many of the requested ingredients on site. There are some that we do need to obtain. I purchase them separately; however the main kitchen is now looking to source these items from local suppliers. We are right next to Slough, Southall and Hounslow, so there are plenty of specialist suppliers in the area. I budget £25 per week for these items and it’s always been sufficient.

CR           Where do they actually eat their meals? Is there a separate dining room?  How many can they invite?

RC           It’s all done in the same room. The kitchen is cleaned down as soon as the meal is ready and the tables and chairs within the room are used as the dining area. The table is laid by the cooks and in the style their meal dictates.  The maximum number of diners has been set at ten, plus the cooks.

CR           Has an element of national pride and competition crept into the scheme?

CR           How long can the cooking and eating time last?

RC           As we have a morning and afternoon session the cooking typically lasts 2 hours and the eating and clearing up another couple, so some 4 hours will pass per session. We get the occasional over run for instance when people do not leave the facility exactly as they found it but that is rare, they appreciate that other’s will follow , so their almost to leave the room and equipment spotless.

CR           Is there any different requirements due to religion?

RC           During Ramadan there was a reduction in the applications, because we were unable to offer the facility so late in the day. Getting ingredients that conform to religious requirements isn’t difficult as the catering facility here have these already.

CR           Hygiene is always an issue; usually people who are cooking for others need to have passed a food hygiene certificate. How do you comply with the statutory requirements when people may only be here once?

RC           I have full qualification for all the requirements a kitchen needs, and as I am always in the room whilst the food is being prepared I ensure all food handling regulations are adhered to. People understand them as they are mainly obvious common sense. All I ever have to do is remind them occasionally. I always check food is the right temperature before it is served and that cross contamination of food doesn’t happen.  It’s in no ones interests to be less than perfect on these matters. However I am considering providing the training and a certification scheme for food hygiene. Something like that is never wasted.

CR           Is there an element of training going on as well? I notice that of the two people cooking now, one is somewhat more senior and seems to be teaching the younger person techniques.

RC           There isn’t a formal system but skills are always being passed from one person to another. We seem to find that the two people who do the cooking are usually a chief cook and a helper. We don’t get two chiefs in at the same time. I suppose the old adage of too many cooks spoiling the broth applies. Its one of the reasons I decided to leave mainstream catering, too many ego’s in a kitchen makes it an unpleasant place to work!

CR           Security must be an issue; you have two people you hardly know, who have access to potentially lethal weapons and boiling ingredients. What is more they may be told at any time that they are being sent out of the country at short notice?  How do you address these concerns?

RC           I have had pictures placed on the inside of each cupboard that show what items should be stored and where. The biggest and most obvious danger issue is the knife set; we have a set of 7 that are essential to enable cooking to be done. These have been stored in a knife roll where it can be easily seen if one is missing. I lock these up at the end of each cooking session. The cutlery is another issue, we have a dozen of each type of utensil and these are counted and locked away before anyone leaves the room. We also get information on a person’s status, and if it is considered that someone’s change in status may create an enhanced risk we will take appropriate action.

CR           Has there been any unexpected benefits and spin off ideas? What do the detainees think of it?

RC           Yes, what I am going to do is take pictures of the completed dishes so I can promote the idea and perhaps produce a calendar. A huge benefit of the scheme is that detainees have some control over their lives. The decisions they can take are necessarily restricted by the requirements of being in an IRC, however this facility gives them the ability to have some control and input into what they do, as food is such a huge part of life it gives them a huge input even if it’s only for a few hours. They don’t have the entire unsupervised run of the facility, I am here all the time and I ensure that health and safety and hygiene rules are adhered to, but the rest of it is their decision. That is important to them and me.  Just the other day I heard the most amazing piece of feedback, one of the detainees was cooking and he turned to me and said.  “When I’m here I do not realise or feel that I am being detained”.

CR           The facility has been running for six weeks now, how do you see it evolving in the future?

RC           I would like to introduce people to cooking. We get a lot of applications from experienced chefs, but there are a lot of people here who will be going back to another country yet will not have any skills in feeding themselves. I would like to obtain some fairly simple books that show how to prepare food in a pictorial way, or create them. I’d use these to help people learn.

CR           What does the future hold, how do you see this developing?

RC           We have functions at this IRC, both for the Centre and when people come to visit, I’d like to be able to have the detainees provide the food for these events. This could take the form of full meals of cultural buffets where different ethnic groups will provide one or two of the items each. It will also bring the serco management team closer with the detainees.  There are many other ways we could go, however this is about empowerment of the detainees to control a part of their own lives.

CR           Thanks for talking to the Review.

Whist I was talking to Robbie a spicy Indian meal was being cooked by two gentlemen. I was invited to sample the fare, it was amazing, and the flavours were incredible. I asked what was in them that made the flavours so good. The cook said “it was just what was on the shelves. It was how they were put together that mattered”!