The culinary arts of correctional cuisine might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about wine. It sucks. All of it, every mortifying morsel, except Arturo’s (aka Old Ass Aquaman) Prison Pad Thai. But it did give birth to Wine Pairing for Prison Food: Reflections and Ruminations. This book is a deconstruction of the traditional notion that food has to be fancy, expensive, or pretentious, to be worthy of the glass of wine a sommelier is pouring.

Arturo Negro takes solid fundamentals of pairing and brings them into an unlikely setting: meals behind bars, where the ingredients are limited and the food is far from a fine-dining menu. The challenge is to look at what’s actually there, including texture, salt, sweetness, acidity, and whatever flavors make it onto your plate. Wine is not reserved for the elite, but instead can enhance your dining experience whether it’s an abomination like shitty, grocery aisle, bologna, or an enjoyably salty, buttery, bag of popcorn. Understanding flavor, basic food science, and learning a bit about wine, will help anyone be able to pair food from the backyard grille, to small dive bar fare, as well as Michelin star restaurants.

The book doesn’t pretend prison food is something to seek out. Arturo is clear that some of the meals described are best left in jail. But the unusual pairings make the lessons memorable. That’s what makes the concept fun: the setting is unexpected, the combinations can be ridiculous, and the underlying ideas are useful. You may never want to recreate the meals, but you might start looking at your own plate a little differently.