The most popular last meals before execution
Grim, huh? Blame my twisted mind for this, but I was thinking about it recently after wiping away my tears because I had watched The Green Mile again. Of course, we don’t have the death penalty in the Netherlands, but America still does (although prisoners on death row often ‘wait’ for decades for their execution), and there they are allowed to choose their last meal.
Among foodies, it’s a popular question: ‘What would you like to eat for your last supper?’ Now that question is a lot more light-hearted, since the word ‘execution’ has nothing else to do with it.
After-dinner dip guaranteed
CBS News investigated the most popular last meals before execution and came up with a very detailed result. The average last meal contains 2,756 calories (so you don’t need to worry about that after-dinner dip) and it probably won’t surprise you that the vast majority go for something tasty and not necessarily healthy. More than two-thirds of prisoners ordered fried food (lots of fries) and a dessert as well. For a drink, they often opted for soda.
Comfort food above all, then, and of these requests, 24 percent of death row prisoners wanted a hamburger, 22 percent a steak and only 4 percent a meal from a fast-food chain such as McDonald’s, KFC or Burger King. That honestly surprised me: I had thought those would be much more popular. I also expected pizza to be requested a lot, but that isn’t the case either.
Last meals before execution
Let’s end on a grim note, then: these were the last meals of the most famous Americans on death row:
- John Wayne Gacy (The Killer Clown): fried shrimp, a bucket of KFC wings, fries and a pound of strawberries
- Ted Bundy (American serial killer): a steak with eggs and hash browns, although he didn’t eat any of it
- Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City Bomber): two large tubs of Ben & Jerry’s chocolate mint ice cream.
