Some images that have gone viral on social networks hide deep and incredible stories that have rarely been found similar in the world. This was the case of the tweet of Paolo Pederzani, which was later retweeted by Gonza Alderete Pages enrapturing @locosxelpicantethe profile of instagram dedicated to the various hot sauces of Argentine and international gastronomy. In that message you could see a bottle of hot sauce“kimchi style”, called “Prisoners of Flavor.” On the label, below the name, you could read the following description: “Product made 100% by inmates of the Former Emboscada Regional Penitentiary”.
The Emboscada Regional Penitentiary It is a prison complex in Paraguay. Located in the Cordillera Departmentthe municipality of Emboscada was founded in 1740 by the Governor Rafael de la Monedabaptizing her “Saint Augustine of the Ambush”, due to the ambushes that were carried out before the Spanish conquest, to the Carian Indians by the tribe of Guaycurú. It is also known as the city of stone, because the majority of the inhabitants live by extracting stones from quarries. There is the maximum security penitentiary, built in 1816, which operates to this day.
“It was a personal undertaking being free before entering prison. When I went to prison, over time I met good-hearted people who tried the product and decided to seek monetary help through friends and thus be able to make this great dream of mine come true. “I did it here inside the prison to cover some expenses,” recalled the Uncle Leepseudonym used by the creator of hot sauce “Prisoners of Flavor” for judicial reasons, in dialogue with NOTICIAS, and added: “I always liked spicy food, and being of Korean origin I wanted to try the taste of Korean gastronomy in a practical way.”
Kimchi is a traditional Korean dish consisting of pickled vegetables, which is mainly served as a side dish with every meal, but can also be served as a main dish. Worldwide, kimchi is recognized as a style of fermented cabbage soup with a spicy flavor. According to specialists, the preparation contains a large amount of vitamin C, carotenes and proteins. In addition, it stimulates the appetite and cleanses the intestines, therefore, it is recommended for people who want to lose weight.
“It would be for any type of food if you love hotness,” Uncle Lee defined, referring to the hot sauce created by him and inspired by the Korean gastronomic tradition, and added: “We are projecting varieties, using the main product as hot , whether spicy mayonnaise, vegan line, spicy and non-spicy seasoned salt, chili jam. “We have no intention of diversifying and leaving the main raw material, which would be chili.”
But how is Korean hot sauce production carried out in a prison complex in Paraguay? Uncle Lee responded: “Currently, we are 14 people deprived of liberty, we work together with the Social Reintegration department, where people are selected according to the profile to be covered in each sector, whether in the production area, operator machine or administrative. About ten people are needed for the production area.”
“Mainly, all ingredients are received twice a week for a production of 5 business days. We select all the ingredients carefully, since fresh products are used, everything is processed on the day, whether it is peeling garlic, onion, ginger, removing the seeds from the apple, etc. Currently, we have a production capacity of about 5,000 bottles, with a capacity of 150cc, weekly,” explained the founding leader of Prisioneros del Sabor.
A project of such magnitude has its requirements, problems and drawbacks. Both the reception of raw materials and the transfer of products to the sales premises are limited only to visiting days, four times a week. Health records for production must also be certified. Finally, a step that must be taken to maintain the brand and the product must be enabled by National Institute of Food and Nutrition (INAN) of the Guaraní country.
Once he had finished pointing out the production process of Prisoners of Flavor, Uncle Lee reflected: “Independent of the Hot Sauce thing, the idea of this group of people is to be able to industrialize the penitentiary at some point, so that it is a model to follow, that in the face of adversity one can always get ahead if one wishes. That is why with the group we decided to take into account what one of the greats in history says, such as Nelson Mandela “The greatness of life does not consist in not falling, but in getting up every time we fall.”
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