While I highly doubt they have
pignoli cookies in prison, Teresa Giudice says that the food was “so good” during her stint in federal prison in Connecticut.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey star served 11 months behind bars for fraud charges related to her now ex-husband’s bankruptcy filing. And while, sure, prison isn’t supposed to be fun, it sounds like Giudice had a pretty decent time. According to PEOPLE, she helped make “camp-style” dinners for her fellow inmates, including her specialty, chicken stir fry.
“I have to say, the food was really good,” Giudice told the outlet. “And I actually cooked there also because I’m a cook—I’m a three-time New York Times best-selling author, three of my cookbooks.”
Her favorite? Banana nut muffins that she would get “every morning” until they ran out. “I was so mad,” she said. “I’m telling you the food was so good.”
Giudice has been an open book about her time in prison and opened up most recently about her former cellmate (who she she still speaks to on occasion) and other inmates.
“My roommate was a politician, there were doctors and lawyers, and there were a lot of cool people there,” she said. She added that it felt like college—only she “couldn’t leave.”
“The grounds were so beautiful, the scenery was so beautiful,” she continued.
Despite the fact that Giudice seemed to love prison, the television personality maintains that she “did nothing wrong” and that the judge was making “an example out of [her].”
“This judge thought she knew me because of what my castmates were saying about me,” she said. “I wasn’t trying to keep up with the Joneses. If anything, my cast members were trying to keep up with me.”
Giudice was originally sentenced to 15 months in federal prison, but was released early in December 2015. She has since remarried and remains a fixture on the Bravo series that made her a household name prior to her prison stint.