Last Dinner

Last Dinner

You have a premonition. It's like you know these are your last hours on Earth, similar to a cat as it slinks away into the underbrushes never to return. But you don't want to hide because a voice says: Choose your last meal. And you feel that you have to select your final succulent bite well...a last memory to start your new life.

What would you choose? Which foods would you like to carry the memory of into the beyond?

After all the dishes I have tried in all the countries I have visited, I have to say the food I imagine helping me into the beyond comes from my childhood. Not the sushi that I crave for every month, nor the baked bass or the ravioli filled with pumpkin that make my mouth water...not even the delectable tiramisu that I remember so well. No, for my last meal I would eat something relatively simple.

First, a spoonful of peanut butter. To be specific, crunchy peanut butter. I would sit there for a while just licking the spoon, letting it stick to my palate until it didn't stick anymore. Afterword, I would move on to "pasta with the egg." My mom used to make this dish. I'm not sure how many moms did this, but mine would boil tiny balls of pasta that you usually add to soup. Then she would add an egg, butter, and parmesan cheese. It's the most comforting thing I've ever eaten.

For dessert, I would choose something I used to make with my mother: chocolate chip cookies. I would specify that I need to lick the batter first from the wooded mixing spoon, savoring it until it was clean. Then, I would ask for two cookies still hot from the oven...two because one is never enough, and the second I would eat with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Oh, and I would order A&W root beer to drink. I don't know when the last time I had root beer was. Maybe I would drop some of the ice cream into it...

My partner said he would choose something from his childhood, particularly if it was made by his grandmother. Surprisingly enough, people on death row pick food associated with warm memories as well. (I say "surprisingly" even though prisoners are people too–it's just maybe we consider them "less human" for the crimes they're accused of.) A study at Cornell concerning death row inmates' final meals made me think about how people might choose their last meal. Most meals listed in the study were full of "comfort food": fried chicken, fries, pie, ice cream...80% of those who asked for dessert chose ice cream, and always simple flavors like chocolate or vanilla. Many people asked for specific brands of things like Coca Cola.  In short, they picked food and drinks that they knew and loved. So, in their last hours inmates that we would call "monsters" accused of heinous crimes suddenly seem more "human". 

What would be your choice of a last meal? How would you choose it?

Photo: PublicDomainPictures.net

Text: Kristen Mastromarchi