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.
