Back to the complete issue
Friday, 26 August 2016

Ramen noodles are prison money in the US now

Cigarettes are being replaced as prison money in the US by ramen noodles, according to a study. The research said the shift was a response to a decline in the quantity and quality of food on offer, BBC notes. "Because it is cheap, tasty, and rich in calories, ramen has become so valuable that it is used to exchange for other goods," the study’s author says. They are also replacing other “traditional forms” of currency in prisons like stamps and envelopes. “The noodles are exchanged for goods including other food items, clothing, hygiene products and even services such as laundry and bunk cleaning.” Ramen noodles are pretty popular and ubiquitous in prisons, Clifton Collins Jr and Gustavo "Goose" Alvarez co-authored a cookbook called Prison Ramen, that includes “more than 65 ramen recipes and stories of prison life from the inmate/cooks who devised them.”

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.