Sunday, October 29, 2006

Last Meals

So, prompted by some last-season Prison Break watching, I have been pondering the concept of one's last meal. It appears that the state of Texas used to post the last meals requested by their death row inmates online. The list can be found here. Fascinating stuff, really. The list consists of primarily hamburgers, fried chicken, and steak. Specific soda requests are common, as are ice creams.

Of course, this all makes me wonder about my own last meal. The death row inmates don't pay much regard to menu planning: pizza with stir-fried beef, chocolate cake, ice cream, broccoli, grapes, 10 quesadillas and more (Jessy San Miguel, executed in 2000).

On one hand, I'd be tempted to request pad thai, chicken paneng, Papa John's hand-tossed with pineapple, chocolate mint ice cream with york peppermint patty mixed-in, vegetable samosas, chevre cheese, nectarines and Coca-Cola. I think the above constitutes a fair representation of my favorite foods, but, for a last meal? I mean, would gorging myself on all my favored flavors give me the requisite level of satisfaction, or would I be better served by creating a real meal?

Ahh! It's an absolute nightmare. I am giving myself a headache planning my theoretical last meal.

I suspect I would enjoy an exquisitely executed (ha! puns!) last meal, but how could I turn my back on goat's cheese, or pad thai? I'm afraid I could never decide. Thus, I would end up with a massive stomach ache before my extermination, OR, the better alternative: I am never executed.

3 comments:

jen said...

I like the one pot of coffee idea. It'd have to be good coffee, though. None of that Folgers crap.

Dug said...

that is totally fascinating. the pictures range from really sad to really really sad. most of the people that were executed were only convicted of killing one person. i mean, what if they really didn't kill that one person ... er, so messed up. but what do you do when you have so many murderers ...

what really counts as a last meal, would be my question. can I get like 300 tabs of LSD? can I get a like a pound of heroin? if not drugs, I would go for making a mess. I would get like a bucket of chocolate syrup and a gallon of warm milk and just slosh them all over the room.

i showed the list to one of my co-workers who suggested a different more educated, stick it to the man technique: expensive/exotic foods. a pound of caviar, filet mignon, lobster, crab, shark, starfruit, etc.

ruth said...

yeah, i was surprised how small some of the crimes were. i mean, of course murder is bad, but like, one guy, with two others, killed one liquor store owner. i mean, terrible, sure, but i thought the death penalty was only for the most heinous crimes. but i suppose, the list is from texas so...