Some say it’s “too bland”. Others brand it a “form of torture”. Notorious detainees held at the UN detention centre in Scheveningen have cause for complaint when it comes to the food being served by the Dutch. There is an alternative – as long as your wallet is fat enough.

Complaining about prison food isn’t new. We’ve moved on from the old days of bread and water, but for the prisoners in the international wing of Scheveningen prison, just outside The Hague, meal times are not a piece of cake either.

Cookery club
“My rights are not being violated, but the food is an abomination,” declared former Liberian president Charles Taylor when he was sent to the Netherlands to stand trial in The Hague by the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2006. Taylor, who stands accused of crimes against humanity and orchestrating war crimes carried out by militias, was used to his own personal cook who made spicy African meals.

Unable to adjust to Dutch culinary blandness, he set up a cookery club using the facilities at the Scheveningen remand centre.

Daily torture
Extreme Serbian nationalist and former paramilitary leader Vojislav Seselj is another notorious prisoner who slams the Dutch diet. Seselj, who was charged by the International Criminal Tribunal on behalf of the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with crimes against humanity, arrived in Scheveningen in 2003.

During one of the hearings in his trial, he publicly castigated the remand centre’s menu. The food was “a daily torture. Even pigs wouldn’t go near it.”

It’s unclear whether Seselj just couldn’t stomach the traditional Dutch potatoes, meat and veg combination – the standard menu served in the detention centre - or whether he was referring to the way it was prepared. The Serbian demanded that he be given prison food “fit for human beings”.

The standard fare being classical Dutch dishes with a modest world cuisine influence, the question could be raised whether the food makes you eager to tuck in when you're from the Balkans or Africa. After all, one has to get used to the culinary habits of another country, and there's no arguing over taste.

But doesn’t everyone long for the food from his or her home country?

Hamburger-Seselj
Could it be that the complainers are just plain spoiled? In better times, 57-year-old Seselj for instance enjoyed copious quantities of calorie-rich food.

His favourite restaurant near Belgrade served the renowned ‘Pjeskovica’, better known as Hamburger à la Seselj – super-sized, heavily-spiced, with bounteous sauces and salads. The Serbian nationalist found it literally finger-licking good.

Apparently, he’d drive out of his way for a Pjeskovica burger. Since coming to Scheveningen, he has shed a lot of pounds.

Healthy and balanced
The ICTY does not appear to be too concerned about the argument. The food is “healthy and balanced”. It is prepared according to Dutch rules, which allow for three meals a day, including one warm microwave meal.

But detainees are also permitted to cook themselves. There is a wide selection of ingredients in the prison shop – including products from the Balkan region.

Seselj claims his campaign isn’t just for his own benefit. If you want to do your own cooking in the detention centre, you have to pay for the ingredients yourself. A choice not open to everyone.

Money
According to the Yugoslavia Tribunal the cost of ingredients is not a problem.  “The prices in the shop are not exorbitant and many detainees have enough money to shop there. They have savings or get remittances from family and sympathisers,” a spokesperson said.

There are ways to escape Scheveningen’s food regime and to have a tasty dinner put on the table. But, on the other hand, life in a remand centre has drastic limitations – so surely, serving food that is seen as a punishment can be avoided.

An opportunity to enhance the image of the international courts?
 

(jn/rk)