A HARTE APPETITE: LAST MEALS VARY ACCORDING TO APPETITE

If you were told your life would end tomorrow, what would be your choice of a last meal? That is the intriguing question James L. Dickerson asked celebrities to ponder for his new book, "Last Suppers."

It is a provocative question even though, as Dickerson observes, it is one most of us will never get to answer, or won't care to. "Most of us live for food," he says, "but in the end it is the last thing on earth we crave. People facing their imminent demise usually request pain-killing drugs, loved ones or one last view of the sunset."

Still, the query piques our curiosity. Would you choose a final taste of something familiar, say an old favorite like your mother's meatloaf or your wife's chocolate cake? Or would you opt for something extravagant like lobster or caviar? Surely you wouldn't need to worry about cholesterol or subsequent indigestion. And you wouldn't have to fret about seconds nor wonder about the propriety of requesting a doggy bag. (A brain-damaged death row convict in Arkansas, however, asked to save his pie until after the execution.)

Condemned criminals are usually able to choose and savor their last meal, but the rest of us are not likely to have adequate warning or, sadly, to be in sufficiently good health. Some scholars say the tradition of offering a last meal to someone about to be executed can be traced to Jesus' Last Supper, but others disagree. Whatever the case, it is a tradition carried out in every state in which capital punishment is practiced.

Records show the concluding culinary choices of those on death row tend to be fairly ordinary. Dickerson's research suggests the majority of convicted killers order shrimp for their last meal. Pam Daniel, a writer for Sarasota Magazine who has done some research on the subject, agrees that shrimp is a popular choice as well as fried chicken and steak. Thus, as Time Magazine reports, serial killer Ted Bundy ate steak, eggs, hash browns and coffee before being put to death. Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, of "In Cold Blood" fame, dined on shrimp, french fries, garlic bread, ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream. Bruno Richard Hauptmann, kidnapper of the Lindbergh baby, enjoyed a pre-electrocution repast of chicken, fries, cherries and cake.

Not all convicts facing the death sentence made conventional choices, however. Among the truly unusual, as reported by Bill Hayes, a Florida scholar of capital punishment, was Margie Barfield, who snacked on Cheez Doodles and a Coke before being executed for poisoning her lover with arsenic-laced beer. Surely the most substantial last meal, at least among convicts, was the one consumed by David Castillo in Texas. It consisted of 24 tacos, two cheeseburgers, two whole onions, five jalapenos, six enchiladas, six tostadas, a quart of milk and a chocolate shake. That's what I call eating like there's no tomorrow!

Among the more elaborate last suppers of recent times was devoured in 1995 not by a convict but by Francois Mitterrand, former president of France, though he broke the law in so doing. The centerpiece of the four-hour feast was the thumb-sized songbird, the ortolan, which supposedly represents the French soul. French law forbids the consumption of this member of the yellowhammer family, but that didn't stop Mitterrand from eating two of them whole, as is the custom, bones and all beneath a large white napkin so as to heighten the sensual experience. In keeping with ritual, the birds were held captive in the dark for weeks, fed millet to fatten them, drowned in Armagnac, and then roasted whole. As a dramatic exit following the meal, Mitterrand declared he would not eat again and died eight days later.

Unlike Mitterrand, most people do not have the luxury of masterminding their last meal, yet even when unplanned, as Daniel observes, history has taken note of what famous people had for their final feed. For some reason we like to know. Thus, because patrons ask so frequently, employees at Mezzaluna, the restaurant where she ate her last dinner, are taught that Nicole Brown Simpson ordered rigatoni. Likewise, there has been much interest recently in what was on the menu in the dining room of the Titanic the night it sank. (Warm poached North Atlantic salmon with mousseline sauce and filet mignon.)

Daniel reports the last meal for Wild Bill Hickock was beans and whiskey, the specialty of the house at Nuttall & Mann's Saloon, where he was shot from behind. For U.S. President Zachary Taylor it was iced milk, cherries and pickled cucumbers. The cherries were rumored to have been poisoned and responsible for his death five days later, though recent exhumation of his body failed to confirm the allegation. For Oscar Wilde it wasn't food, but drink. Sipping champagne, the impoverished playwright announced, "I am dying as I have lived, beyond my means."

Dickerson went beyond the historical record and conducted his own investigations, for example, interviewing June Mallea, the waitress who served Ernest Hemingway his last meal at a restaurant in Ketchum, Idaho. She remembered the Nobel Prize-winning author eating a New York strip steak, baked potato and a Caesar salad the night before he shot himself.

With the exception of Princess Diana, who last dined on asparagus and mushroom omelet and Dover sole with vegetable tempura, Dickerson reports the last suppers of most celebrities were hastily prepared and consumed. Thus, John Candy whipped up pasta for himself and friends before going to bed where he died in his sleep. James Dean, eager to put his new Porsche through its paces, made time only for a glass of milk and an apple on the day of his death in that same vehicle. A dish of ice cream and cookies eaten at 4 a.m. was the last thing Elvis Presley ate. John Lennon grabbed a quick sandwich at the Stage Deli in New York before returning to his Manhattan apartment and an assassin's bullet. For her last meal, Marilyn Monroe had guacamole, stuffed mushrooms and spicy meatballs eaten buffet style at a Brentwood restaurant.

Though we may want to know what famous people actually had for their last suppers, as Dickerson's book proves, it is equally interesting to learn what the living would request if they had the opportunity. Dickerson asked and found that Dick Clark would choose Cajun corn chowder, Vanna White a cottage cheese salad, Helen Reddy raspberries with hot rum vanilla custard, Bill Clinton chicken enchiladas, and Jack Nicklaus Italian cream cake.

Similarly, I asked local celebrities and got equally varied answers. For example, Judge William Syler, a self-professed non-gourmet, would have a peanut butter and honey sandwich on white bread and chocolate milk for his last supper. Though his request is hardly demanding, he would insist on Peter Pan peanut butter and Wonder bread.

Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle, on the other hand, would select an everything pizza, complete with both kinds of olives, from Pagliai's. Mary Kasten, state representative, would request a big steak (medium rare), corn on the cob, and her favorite dessert, strawberry fluff.

Elma Staten, proprietor of Whitfield's, would choose her favorite meal: fried chicken, collard greens, potato salad, cornbread and Whitfield's bread pudding. Channel 12 news anchor Mary-Ann Maloney would have a little bit of everything she likes. Forgoing her usual low-fat regimen, she'd sample macaroni and cheese, sour cream dinner rolls, a twice-baked potato and a Coke, and then progress to black bean vegetables from China Palace, a bean burrito from El Torero, a turkey sandwich from Schlotzksy's and an Oreo blizzard from Dairy Queen.

Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling III would pick a bacon and tomato sandwich on whole wheat bread (no lettuce) and a slice of his mother's banana cake with brown sugar frosting. Dr. Ken Dobbins, president of Southeast Missouri State University, would select Julia Child's lamb chops with mustard coating.

And what would I want? I thought you'd never ask. Here is my choice for a last meal: fried artichokes like they make at Kemoll's in St. Louis as an appetizer, followed by pumpkin soup and a Greek salad. For the fish course, I'd have grilled salmon and for the meat course, chateaubriand. As side dishes I'd like risotto with truffles and saut82ed spinach with pine nuts and golden raisins. The cheese course would be Stilton with walnuts and port, and dessert would be chocolate cheesecake. I'd conclude with raspberry-filled white chocolate truffles and coffee. At the prospect of such a meal I can almost hear myself echoing the words of Pierette Brillat-Savarin, the aunt of the great gourmet: "I feel the end approaching. Quick, bring me my dessert, coffee and liqueur."

The following recipes for last requests are all too good to wait until the end to fix, so try them out at your earliest opportunity. And here's hoping you'll enjoy many more meals to come before your last supper.

Mustard Coating for Lamb Chops

Ingredients:

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoon ground rosemary

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

Mash the garlic with the salt until it forms a paste. Add remaining ingredients, except oil. Whisk in oil until creamy. Paint lamb chops with coating, let marinate up to overnight in the refrigerator, and broil or grill, basting with reserved coating.

Whitfield's Potato Salad

Ingredients:

12 medium-sized red potatoes

6 boiled eggs

1 chicken breast, poached and finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

1 medium white onion, chopped

1 teaspoon celery salt

1/2 cup Miracle Whip

1/2 sour cream

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup sweet pickle relish

salt to taste

paprika

Directions:

Boil potatoes until fork tender, drain and let sit until room temperature. Chop potatoes into small cubes and combine with remaining ingredients. Sprinkle with paprika.

Strawberry Fluff

Ingredients:

3/4 box vanilla wafers, crushed fine

1/4 cup melted butter

3/4 cup soft butter

1/2 cup Egg Beaters

1 cup powdered sugar

1 pint strawberries, lightly sugared

1 cup Cool Whip

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Combine wafers and melted butter and press into bottom of 9-x-13-inch pan. Cream together soft butter and powdered sugar. Beat in Egg Beaters. Spoon mixture over crust. Top with strawberries, sprinkle with nuts and cover with Cool Whip. Chill 8 hours.

Got a culinary question you'd like to ask or an idea you'd like to see treated in this column? Send your suggestions to A Harte Appetite, c/o The Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699 or by e-mail to tharte@semovm.semo.edu.