Famous last meals

This post is a little grim.  Don't ask me how I ended up on the Wikipedia entry for "Last meal".  The last meal is an ancient custom of granting a final meal to a condemned man.  Some states now put limits on last meal requests, but nearly all still arrange for a meal of the inmate's choosing.  You will see that inmates take very different approaches to the last meal.  Read enough of these, and a few groups emerge.  Could there even be a paleo meal or two?

Note that these are the requested last meals -- not all were fulfilled, or exactly so.

Sugar Fiends (These are just painful to read.  I can almost feel the insulin shock.) 

  • Dobie Gillis Williams: Twelve candy bars and some ice cream.  
  • Robert Alton Harris: A 21-piece bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, two large Domino's pizzas (no anchovies), ice cream, a bag of jelly beans, a six-pack of Pepsi, and a pack of Camel cigarettes.
  • Timothy McVeigh: Two pints of mint chocolate-chip ice cream.
  • William Bonin: Two pepperoni and sausage pizzas, three servings of chocolate ice cream, and fifteen cans of Coca-Cola.
Abstainers (I wouldn't exactly call this intermittent fasting.)
  • Adolf Eichmann declined a special meal, preferring a bottle of Carmel, a dry red Israeli wine. He drank about half of it.
  • Ángel Nieves Díaz declined a special meal. He was served the regular prison meal for that day, but declined that as well.
  • James Edward Smith requested a lump of dirt, which was denied. He settled for a small cup of yogurt.
  • Victor Feguer requested a single olive with the pit still in.
Standard Fares (I can't say that I'd choose prison fare, but there is a stoicism to it.)
  • Aileen Wuornos declined a special meal, but had a hamburger and other snack food from the prison's canteen. Later, she drank a cup of coffee.
  • Desmond Keith Carter declined a special meal, but had two cheeseburgers, a steak sub, and two Cokes from the prison canteen, for which he paid $4.20 from his prison account.
  • Michael Bruce Ross (of Connecticut) declined a special meal, but dined on the regular prison meal of the day: turkey à la king with rice, mixed vegetables, white bread, fruit, and a beverage.
Greater Causes (Eating "Justice" and "Jesus" sound equally unappetizing to me.)
  • Odell Barnes: "Justice, Equality, World Peace."
  • Joan of Arc: Holy Communion (Jesus).

The Vegetarian (who is, as you'll see, the most self-righteous of the bunch)

  • Philip Workman: He declined a special meal for himself, but he asked for a large vegetarian pizza to be given to a homeless person in Nashville, Tennessee. This request was denied by the prison, but carried out by others across the country. 

Paleo (could it be?)

  • Charles Frederick Peace: A hearty breakfast of eggs and a huge amount of (very salty) bacon. 
  • Gordon Fawcett Hambly, who suffered from indigestion, a lobster salad.

Charles Peace lived in 19th century Britain, when meat was much more of a luxury -- so I'm not inclined he typically ate paleo.  Hambly, on the other hand, clearly had IBS or some other digestive disorder -- just like some paleo folks I know.  He seems to have known what upset his stomach.  I'd love to see profiles of people throughout history who arrived at paleo by accident, with no scientific background, no evolutionary perspective -- simply through trial and error. 

What would your last meal be?  Would you splurge?  Put your answers in the comments.  

And check out the whole list here.

Comments

My favorite was the lump of

My favorite was the lump of dirt asked for by James Smith.  He didn't get it, by the way.---Ty Treadwell, author of Last Suppers: Famous Final Meals from Death Rowhttp://lastsuppersbook.blogspot.com/

 The heart of the judge who

 The heart of the judge who sentenced me.

I must have a morbid sense of

I must have a morbid sense of humor since I found this post terribly amusing. Eichmann's way would be the best to go, buzzed on red wine. Or Malibu.

"Don't ask me how I ended up

"Don't ask me how I ended up on the Wikipedia entry for "Last meal"."This is why I fear going to Wikipedia. Not only do I not know where I'll end up (hours later) but I'll usually forget what I was originally looking for in the first place!  :^D

Ha, exactly

Ha, exactly

Great post!  Since I would be

Great post!  Since I would be cashing in my chips, and no longer need to eat for health reasons, I would have a Bacon-cheeseburger from Beck's Prime (in Houston), a meat-lover's pizza with extra cheese and sauce, a big piece of banana cream cheesecake, and a gallon of iced tea!

Last meal: Water, Arugula

Last meal: Water, Arugula wrapped in smoked salmon, coated with lemon juice and pepper. For dessert: chocolate cupcakes:  http://www.elanaspantry.com/chocolate-cupcakes/  (Though I must admit, I would use a totally non paleo frosting...I'm about to die anyway.)  Re: Adolf Eichmann...can you imagine if he had a hangover when they killed him?  No fun.  No fun anyway, I assume, but alcohol on an empty stomach and knowing that impending death was coming at an appointed hour?  Not the way I'd choose to go.

A plate of various meat (like

A plate of various meat (like you can order in grill restaurant). It would have a nice steak, some pork filet, some wild birds (duck may be), some buffalo, some bacon and probably some deer. I would not expect to eat all of it but I would taste them all and eat as much as I can. Hey, it's my last meal, let me overeat.

Either a dryaged ribeye,

Either a dryaged ribeye, rare. Or a big jar of artisana coconut butter. i consider myself a carnivore in general, but that coconut butter is stupidgood.

 A gallon sized bag of dried

 A gallon sized bag of dried Sockeye, a bowl of assorted berries (Huckleberries, currants, salmonberries, thimbleberries, salal berries and serviceberries) and a quart of hooligan grease would do me right.

2 Filet Mignon steaks, cooked

2 Filet Mignon steaks, cooked rare or med-rare, preferably grass-fed, sea scallops cooked in butter, bowl of mixed berries, coconut milk based mint choco-chip ice cream, red wine - Montepulcianno.That's enough to feed me for two days, so I'd have a stomach ache from eating all of that in one sitting.Based on what's going on John, are you worried we'll one day be in jail for being bad, recalcitrant citizens?

Porterhouse steak with bacon,

Porterhouse steak with bacon, huge piece vanilla cake with vanilla ice cream, a shot of tequila, and a pint of raspberries.

MEDIUM-RARE TENDERLOIN STEAK

MEDIUM-RARE TENDERLOIN STEAK cooked in olive oil with onions n mushrooms. A slice of SALMON with a side of BROCCOLI. This was my choice before I even found out about the paleo diet.

 I hate to say it, but I

 I hate to say it, but I think I would eat a meatlovers pizza, 6 pack of Guiness, and a pint of Ben and Jerry's. Oh yeah, maybe a pack of cigarettes too. I know its not Paleo, but I miss those things most.  Interesting post.