Last Supper
December 3rd, 2007 by Brian Ries in Hunger, Worst OfThe Texas Department of Criminal Justice had a website that lists the final meal requests of every prisoner executed between 1982 and 2003. The TDCJ pulled the site in 2003, but archives like the one I link to above are available.
I hesitated before posting this. After all, this meal is the last piece of personal control a prisoner has before their death. Airing it out all over the blogosphere seemed a little, well, crass. Then I started looking over the site.
It turns out that a mass of fried chicken, double-meat hamburgers, RC Cola and over easy eggs can be depressing, poignant and revealing. Although there are a few oddball requests, most of the selections are wholeheartedly comfort food, the kinds of things that might remind someone of family and youth and, maybe, of good times. Milk and sweet tea are common, salads and fruit appear more often than you’d think and steak runs a close third to burgers and chicken.
The whole final meal tradition has always struck me as a bit odd. It’s more a ritual to assuage the executioners than the prisoner, one final bit of good cheer and kindness before the needle goes in. Not really a holiday pick-me-up, but check it out if you want a different view of the death penalty, or maybe just some perspective on your own food choices.
December 4th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I’m fascinated by the ritual of the Last Meal for the condemned prisoner, and I remember vividly the one execution I witnessed because the collective press on hand for the duty was mainly interested in finding out exactly what his last meal was, even in the few minutes before the electrocution as we waited in a small room at the Florida State Prison in Starke. I guess it is the whole idea of capturing all your life’s experience and hopes and dreams for the future in one last meal. That’s it, that’s all you are left is one final gustatory experience, your last lifeline to the familiar.
For me: ribeye steak grilled, vodka a la rigatoni, tomatoes and mozz with balsamic vinegar and fresh basil chiffonades, and a huge slice of Key Lime Pie as served by the Grassy Island Dairy Bar restaurant in the Florida Keys
December 4th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Wayne -
I can see how the last meal ritual is a way for viewers to distance themselves, find something else to focus on instead of the gruesome act at hand.
For me: a wide variety of ripe fresh fruit, grilled ribeye steak (well-salted, medium rare), handful of salted cashews, freshly squeezed orange juice, twice baked potatoes loaded with cheese and chip dip, iceberg salad with gorgonzola cheese, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.
God, that’s depressing exercise.
December 7th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
my favorite from the list - Justice, Temperance, with Mercy.