Confessions of a Prison Cook; Interview with Authors

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY)

Confessions of a Prison Cook: A Fusion of Food & Crime is my new favorite book. Part memoir, part cook book, part true crime kitschy tales that involve food, it is highly original and cannily written.

The book is co-authored by Erika Somerfeld and Philip Longo. Longo served ten years in an upstate New York person and found purpose and possibly even redemption when he became a prison cook. Cleverly structured into short chapters where a prison anecdote, usually focused on a fellow inmate of Longo’s, is fused with a fun recipe perfectly selected for the recollection.

Each chapter closes with a real crime tidbit called News Pairing where the authors reveal an often ironic, often hysterical criminal act involving food. The voluminous research the authors’ conducted comes in handy when you log onto their great website/blog spot. Here you can simply type in a food in the search tab and find a true story about how that food was involved in criminal activity.

Food and Crime!

I interviewed Erika Somerfeld and Philip Longo from Los Angeles a few days ago, and we discussed Philip’s life and how it inspired the book and how and why the co-authors came to write the book.

Click on the play button to watch the full interview.

To buy the book on Amazon, click here.

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