Celebrity chef Ranveer Brar to hone culinary skills of UP inmates

The Uttar Pradesh Prisons Department has roped in celebrity chef Ranveer Brar to help in improving the taste and quality of food served to inmates in jails across the state.

The move has been initiated by the Department and National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBD), which is the premier wing of the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

Director General (DG) of Prisons, Anand Kumar, said that the celebrity chef will coach prisoners to try new recipes for their meals.

"The chef will explain to them how to make multiple healthy recipes from the existing food on the platter and also help the inmates in becoming self-reliant," he said.

The DG said that the whole schedule of the chef has been decided in coordination with the NIESBD and Brar will start operations on Monday in Model Lucknow Jail and Nari Bandi Niketan.

Not just cooking, its packaging will also be taught to them as a part of entrepreneurship development, Kumar said.

In the first phase, skills of cooking, weaving, embroidery will be taught in Lucknow Model Jail and Nari Bandi Niketan and later after it is successful, the model will be replicated in other prisons of the state.

Jailor of Lucknow Model Jail, C P Tripathi, said that Brar will visit the prison on Monday.

"As per the directions, we have already formed four batches of 25 people each who will be interacting with the chef and honing their cooking skills," said the officer.

The officer also said that the top chef will also train the prisoners to be able to cook a wider variety of confectionery items from the bakery, which has been on the prison campus.

The objective is to not only add some cookies, biscuits to it, but also teach the prisoners how to package them so that it can also be sold out in the open market.

"We are currently selling a 100 gram bun which costs just Rs 5 and it can be obtained from the jail headquarters," he said.