“It allows us to work and forget the cell a bit”

Last warm-up laps before the inauguration. A one-of-a-kind restaurant opens its doors on Tuesday, November 15 in Marseille: a bistronomic table located in the heart of the Baumettes prison called Les Beaux Mets.

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As an aperitif, alcohol being strictly forbidden, it will be a fruit cocktail concocted by Kaha who welcomes you at the bar with a big smile: “Welcome to the Beaux Mets restaurant.” From this Baumettes prison, the apprentice waiter will be released in January 2023. But already, he feels a little elsewhere. “Having people come from outside is a real breath of fresh airhe explains. So there is a part of things that I knew how to do, already quite a bit. And afterwards, there is a big part that taught me: the vocabulary or how to use certain utensils. It can be useful for working as a worker in a restaurant or a bistro.”

The atmosphere is warm in this small room with about forty seats, the neat decoration. But the prison is right there, on the other side of the window: “The cells are right in front. We forget them, we don’t think about them.” Karim is in the kitchen. He had never cooked. Here he is preparing one of the dishes on the menu. “It’s a lamb crumblesays Karim. When you’re in the kitchen, you completely forget about detention. It allows us to work, to forget the cell a bit.” During the tests, it went pretty well. “To see them love a plate, it makes me want to continue. To see them happy, just from the expression on their faces, it makes me feel good.”

The brigade is led by chef Sandrine Sollier, who has worked in starred cuisine. “I am pleasantly surprised by the work they provide and the desire every day that they haveshe explains. We try to be much more educational than outside. We can be much more rigid. There, we take a lot more time to find out how they are doing to best accompany them during their day. You have to know that if they are in detention, they are not there to be congratulated. So when you congratulate them, for them, they have won something.”

On the room side, the prisoners are supervised by a butler, Marc Balthazard: “We realize that they have the capacity and it is enough to have someone who helps them to go back in the right direction.”

“I didn’t know where I was setting foot, but it’s true that I have a more than positive image of detention.”

Marc Balthazard, butler

at franceinfo

Improving the image of the prison environment is also the ambition of this system. “This is a unique opportunity to challenge the prejudicessays Armand Hurault, director of the Festins association, which carries the project. Go meet prisoners who want to get out of it, who are in a professional position, against everything that the prison world can convey as clichés. The only conditions to be met: present a clean criminal record and submit to a few rules, such as leaving your mobile phone at the entrance.