Fans of Netflix series Orange Is the New Black know that food is integral to the story (and backstories) of the women incarcerated at Litchfield Correctional Institution. Prison politics revolve around the operation of the kitchen — and the hairnet-wearing servers wield power by dispensing or withholding helpings of mess-hall slop. As Red says early on in the show's development, "There's the people who serve the bread, and the people who eat the bread."

In Orange Is the New Black Presents: The Cookbook (Bites, Booze, Secrets, and Stories From Inside the Big House) (on sale today), the show's complex characters are further explored through their relationships with food, revealed in the headnotes to their recipes. You'll find familiar prison fare from both Red's and Gloria's kitchen reigns (and that SHU Moldy Mystery Meat), but more interestingly, the food from prisoners' pasts that provides glimpses into how they devolved into criminals. There's Vee's Butternut Squash Soup, which Taystee devoured as readily as she warmed to her drug-dealing family, and Red's famous Pirozhki, which symbolizes the past she has left so very far behind.

For Piper, food often serves as a mirror, contrasting her present-day existence with the frivolity of her life with Larry. When Red tries to starve her in Season 1, Piper finds it ironic that she used to subsist on lemon-cayenne-maple syrup cleanses to lose weight, and she yearns for the Whole Foods lifestyle (and the Crack Almonds to be found there). Then there are the types of beverages inmates concoct to get them through their sentences, like Poussey’s Hooch, shared here with the number of different mixers that compose the illicit cocktails. The full-page photos and clever behind-the-scenes tales will give eager binge-watchers something to nosh on until Season 3 is released sometime in 2015 — and plenty of time to prepare a themed viewing-party menu.

Try a couple recipes from Orange is the New Black Presents: The Cookbook today:

We’re giving away three copies of  Orange is the New Black Presents: The Cookbook (one cookbook to each of three winners). All you have to do to enter is  check out this gallery of fun and frightful fall treats and leave a comment telling us which recipe you’d make for a Halloween party.

So, tell us, which Halloween party recipe would you make?  You must include your email address in the “Email” field when submitting your comment so we can communicate back with you if you’re a winner. (But do not post your email address into the actual body of the comment.) We’re giving three very lucky, randomly selected commenters each a copy of Orange is the New Black Presents: The Cookbook. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal residents of the 48 contiguous United States and D.C., age 21 or older. Void in Alaska, Hawaii and where prohibited. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Sweepstakes ends at 6pm ET on October 20, 2014. For full official rules, visit  http://blog.cookingchanneltv.com/orange-is-the-new-black-presents-the-cookbook-giveaway-rules/. Sponsored by Cooking Channel, LLC, 75 9th Ave, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10011.