Short
Arnold
Lara MLast Suppers – Famous Final Meals From Death Row
June 4th 2007 07:31
Morbid yet fascinating.
A very interesting concept for a book which has attracted quite a bit of media attention. As the title suggests, Last Suppers – Famous Final Meals From Death Row showcases a range of special request meals fed to prisoners before their executions.
Far from the finest cuisine, many unfortunates on death row request meals from their childhoods or favourite fast food fare. This was all too often burgers and hot dogs, no doubt illustrating some sort of comment on the social fabric of the United States of America.
Personally, I’d be after the lobster soaked in truffles, but I suppose they do have some sort of restrictions, perhaps an upper limit in cost or availability? Indeed the book does show that many inmates left this world unsatisfied, as they did not get exactly what they desired.
Yet this book goes far beyond simply last meals and into the deep dark realm of last words. The book also describes little vingettes of people's lives as it profiles some of the criminals sentanced on death row and how they exited the world’s stage. This includes an eerie poem composed by Thomas Grasso on his final day.
In many ways it is the prisoner’s profiles that are most grasping, as one is sure to guiltily indulge in learning of heinous crimes and how the prisoners considered themselves a part of society. I suppose that it is in this way that we are provided with an insight into this forbidden world, as something so rudimentary as eating takes on a grand significance as the ‘last meal’. Through this book we are allowed an intrusion into the final moments of a condemned human being, and share something that we have in common with them.
It is believed that the use of low-resolution images and text extracts in this context
• to illustrate the publication in question,
• with the owners’ names either visible on the image itself or written in the image description below,
on the www.foodherald.com hosted on a server in Australia by www.orble.com , qualifies as fair use under Australian copyright law.
A very interesting concept for a book which has attracted quite a bit of media attention. As the title suggests, Last Suppers – Famous Final Meals From Death Row showcases a range of special request meals fed to prisoners before their executions.
Far from the finest cuisine, many unfortunates on death row request meals from their childhoods or favourite fast food fare. This was all too often burgers and hot dogs, no doubt illustrating some sort of comment on the social fabric of the United States of America.
Personally, I’d be after the lobster soaked in truffles, but I suppose they do have some sort of restrictions, perhaps an upper limit in cost or availability? Indeed the book does show that many inmates left this world unsatisfied, as they did not get exactly what they desired.
In many ways it is the prisoner’s profiles that are most grasping, as one is sure to guiltily indulge in learning of heinous crimes and how the prisoners considered themselves a part of society. I suppose that it is in this way that we are provided with an insight into this forbidden world, as something so rudimentary as eating takes on a grand significance as the ‘last meal’. Through this book we are allowed an intrusion into the final moments of a condemned human being, and share something that we have in common with them.
http://www.amazon.com
It is believed that the use of low-resolution images and text extracts in this context
• to illustrate the publication in question,
• with the owners’ names either visible on the image itself or written in the image description below,
on the www.foodherald.com hosted on a server in Australia by www.orble.com , qualifies as fair use under Australian copyright law.
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