On Thursday September 23rd, 2010 Teresa Lewis (the first woman on Virgina's death row in 100 years) was administered a lethal injection for her role in the murders of her husband and stepson. Reportedly her requested last meal consisted of two fried chicken breasts, sweet peas with butter, German chocolate cake, apple pie and a Dr. Pepper.
Intrigued after reading this, I realized that I had discovered a way to combine the subject of food and my fascination with abnormal psychology, specifically the minds of murderers. My natural morbid curiosity begged the questions of "What do death row inmates choose for their last meal, and why?".
I am not here to take a stance on the the death penalty; how I feel about it is irrelevant. Also I intend no disrespect to the victims of the crimes committed, nor to deprecate the gravity of this polarizing subject. I want to focus on the last meal as a way to try to understand how food is used for comfort even in the most extreme and unusual circumstances. We eat when we are celebrating, we eat when we grieve and, apparently, we eat when facing our own mortality.
Currently 35 of our 50 states permit capital punishment, with Texas being the leader in executions and Florida ranking 7th. Interestingly, in Florida the budget for an inmate's last meal is set at $40, double the $20 limit set by most other states, and all ingredients must be purchased locally. So there will be no lobster flown in from Maine, fresh truffles from France or imported Russian Beluga caviar.