Despite blanking on a post on 1 November (I blame the public holiday), I am going to try and post something everyday for November and participate in National Blog Posting Month hosted by BlogHer.
Whose nation? Good question. I assume that like most of these things (Nanowrimo - National Novel Writing Month and Naswenimo - National Sweater Knitting Month) the nation in question is the USA. However, I don't think that should preclude me from participating.
BlogHer helpfully offers a daily prompt and though I expect that many will not be relevant to my food-focussed writing adventures, today's prompt is.
If you knew that whatever you ate next would be your last meal, what would you want it to be?
I'm sure that may of you have thought about this before - the eternal "last supper" question. Interestingly, the concept of a prisoner's last meal was cancelled in Texas following a fairly outrageous request by an inmate convicted of a hate-crime related murder - for more, click here.
There is a dilemma - choose a great tasting tried and true meal (safe) or risk your final meal with some rare ingredient that you have never had. Do you want to be alone? Out at a restaurant? Enjoying a home cooked meal?
There are so many elements that make up a good "meal", as opposed to merely selecting the final food item you could eat before you died (which would be hard enough).
It would come down to good company - probably just that of my husband - but likely cooked by someone else. I can't imagine much worse than having to wash the dishes moments before I died - or leaving them for G to do once I have passed away. I think I would probably choose dishes that I knew I would enjoy rather than risking something new. I would also need to first come to grips with the fact that I wouldn't be able to eat everything that I loved in my final meal (or the meal may never end). Some oysters, some salmon, something chocolatey, good wine and a great coffee at the end would probably do it for me.
I suppose the topic does not need to be quite so gloomy. The last meal in question could be the last before I lost my sense of taste, although that too would be quite devastating. Grant Achatz, a chef at Alinea, lost his sense of taste while fighting tongue cancer. Luckily he was successful in beating the cancer, and later regaining his taste.
Gloom aside, have you thought about your last meal? What would it involve?
Mine would be pretty darn similar actually - although prawns would be included with the oysters to start, and maybe tetsuya's trout instead of salmon.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely something chocolatey for dessert- probably a gooey pudding. And awesomely good coffee and petit fours to finish. All washed down with a range of alcoholic beverages, from the finest champagne to ethiopian beer.