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There is something fascinating about last meals. Eating is something we
do multiple times on a daily basis; it is what gives us life. Surround
yourself with chefs, cooks, and culinarily inclined guests at a dinner
party, and you may very well be presented with a particular question:
“What would you want for your last meal on earth?” Some will choose
indulgent dishes like oysters, lobster, and foie gras, while others will
instead favor comfort foods from their childhood or simple dishes from
home, like spaghetti pomodoro, steak, and mashed potatoes, mom's
meatloaf, or homemade biscuits. Read on and discover the last meals
eaten by some famous people throughout history. Will they surprise you,
or will they reinforce famous reputations?
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Socrates
In 399 BC, faced with the two choices, a jury of Athenians selected
death for Socrates as punishment for impiety and corrupting the youth of
the city. The philosopher was taken to the nearby jail where his
sentence would be carried out. Athenian law prescribed death by drinking
a cup of poison hemlock. |
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Napoleon Bonaparte
On May 5, 1821, while in exile on the island of St. Helena, the
erstwhile emperor of France ate liver and bacon chops, sautéed kidneys
in sherry, shirred eggs with cream, and garlic toast with roast tomatoes
before breathing his last. |
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Abraham Lincoln
On April 14, 1865, before heading out to watch Our American Cousin at
Ford's Theater, President Lincoln dined on mock turtle soup, roast
Virginia fowl with chestnut stuffing, baked yams, and cauliflower with
cheese sauce. |
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General Custer
On June 25, 1876, Custer ate roasted buffalo steaks, beans with
molasses, roasted wild corn, and prairie hen before recklessly leading a
battalion of the 7th Cavalry into disaster at the Battle of the Little
Bighorn. Custer and his entire detachment were killed. |
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Adolf Hitler
On April 30, 1945, holed up in his bunker underneath a shattered Berlin,
Hitler ate spaghetti with "light sauce" (although some biographers say
he had lasagna) - almost certainly meatless, as he was a vegetarian.
Shortly after the meal (which had presumably not been vetted by his
personal food taster), Hitler and Eva Braun, whom he had married less
than 40 hours earlier, went into a private room and took their own
lives.
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Mahatma Gandhi
On the evening of January 30, 1948, Gandhi enjoyed one of his standard
healthy dinners -goat's milk, cooked vegetables, oranges, and a
concoction of ginger, sour lemons, and strained butter mixed with aloe
juice - before he was assassinated by Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse.
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John F. Kennedy
On the morning of November 22, 1963, JFK ate breakfast in his room at
the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth. According to the hotel's executive chef,
Otto Druhe, he served the president "coffee, orange juice, two boiled
(five-minute) eggs, some toast, and marmalade on the side." The
president's entourage then left for downtown Dallas, where they were
scheduled for a 1 p.m. luncheon to take place directly after Kennedy's
motorcade made its way through town. Kennedy was shot at 12:30 p.m.
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Saddam Hussein
On December 30, 2006, the former president of Iraq was executed by
hanging. Reports say his last meal consisted of boiled chicken and rice
with hot water mixed with honey. He was offered cigarettes as well, but
refused.
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Michael Jackson
June 25th, 2009, the King of Pop enjoyed a last meal of spinach salad
with chicken breast before dying of acute propofol and benzodiazepine
intoxication.
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Princess Diana
On August 31st, 1997, before her tragic accident, Diana enjoyed a meal
of Dover sole, vegetable tempura, and a mushroom and asparagus omelette
at the restaurant L'Espadon inside the Ritz Paris.
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