# If you were on death row, what would be your last meal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751 "2013-09-01T20:07:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/61 "2013-09-05T05:01:18Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Incidentally, they don’t do that anymore. Even then they wouldn’t make the offender anything his heart desired, but they would make anything they had in the prison kitchen. A recent offender requested an unbelievable amount of food and didn’t eat a bite of it, so they ended the last meal policy. Now condemned offenders get whatever is being served in the chow hall that night. I guess one bad apple ruined it for everybody. Yep, here it is: [No more last meals in Texas](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2040000/Texas-bans-meals-death-row-Lawrence-Russell-Brewer-execution.html). Excerpt: \*\*"For those on death row, it is the last thing they have left to look forward to. "But inmates in Texas will no longer be allowed to choose their final meal, after a convicted murderer ordered a massive multi-course dinner. ## “Lawrence Brewer, who was executed on Wednesday, asked for two chicken steaks, a triple bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, three fajitas, a pizza, a pint of ice cream, and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts. He reportedly refused to eat any of the feast once it was delivered.”\*\* A final “Fuck you!” to the system, but yes, a typical case of one guy spoiling it for the others. EDIT: Weren’t there some pizza commercials one time … Pizza Hut maybe? … that showed Death Row inmates ordering the company’s product for their last meal? And they were pulled for being in poor taste? ---
**Author:** ![golear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@golear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/golear)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/62 "2013-09-05T13:01:40Z")
Depends on the method of death. If it’s the electric chair, I want 5 lbs. of raw popcorn… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/63 "2013-09-05T13:12:17Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > A final “Fuck you!” to the system, but yes, a typical case of one guy spoiling it for the others. Nah. They were looking for a reason to get rid of the final meal requests. As I recall (and it may be in that article, I didn’t re-read it), a local restaurant owner offered to fill the requests for free and he was turned down. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/64 "2013-09-05T13:29:35Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Nah. They were looking for a reason to get rid of the final meal requests. As I recall (and it may be in that article, I didn’t re-read it), a local restaurant owner offered to fill the requests for free and he was turned down. Oh, I get it. A final “Fuck you!” _from_ the system. (Or next to final, I guess.) ---
**Author:** ![boozilu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@boozilu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boozilu)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/65 "2013-09-05T14:03:20Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > There’s no way I’d be able to eat. I probably wouldn’t be able to eat for days in advance. I’m sure I recently saw the death row prisoner in some show (The Killing, maybe) say that most prisoners don’t eat their last meals so the cooks and/or guards get to enjoy it. It that’s true, I’d ask for something heinous like fish in velveeta sauce to stick it to The Man one last time! ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/66 "2013-09-05T14:38:48Z")
“I’d ask for a McRib and a Shamrock Shake. They almost never have both of those things at the same limited time” (one of my favorite lines from Raising Hope) I understand that they’re not flying in truffles, but would a compassionate staff member be allowed to bring me Chinese takeout or some other reasonable local thing? To actually answer the OP with the understanding I’ve gained in this thread - I’m torn between a big breakfast (eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, biscuits and gravy) or a loaded baked potato. Then I read all the posts that say “who could eat?” and I get that. But if we’re thinking about it in such a realistic way - how would I end up on death row? And that short circuits my brain. ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/67 "2013-09-05T14:48:30Z")
> [@boozilu](#): > > I’m sure I recently saw the death row prisoner in some show (The Killing, maybe) say that most prisoners don’t eat their last meals so the cooks and/or guards get to enjoy it. It that’s true, I’d ask for something heinous like fish in velveeta sauce to stick it to The Man one last time! A modern day version of tipping the axe-man? I could see that. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/68 "2013-09-05T15:26:28Z")
A BigMac, some taco bell tacos, a steak from Applebees and a couple of Coors light. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/69 "2013-09-05T15:27:55Z")
Ribeye, cooked medium rare ``` -- Me (cooked well done) ``` ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/70 "2013-09-05T19:54:34Z")
Vegetable egg foo yung, vegetable fried rice, sweet potato fries, french fries and a fried banana split. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/71 "2013-09-05T20:05:40Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > – Me (cooked well done) Don’t worry-the electric chair will take care of that. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/72 "2013-09-05T20:05:44Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Incidentally, they don’t do that anymore. Even then they wouldn’t make the offender anything his heart desired, but they would make anything they had in the prison kitchen. A recent offender requested an unbelievable amount of food and didn’t eat a bite of it, so they ended the last meal policy. Now condemned offenders get whatever is being served in the chow hall that night. I guess one bad apple ruined it for everybody. Why would they care if he ate it? It costs the same to the prison either way. And they could always say “Nope, too expensive.” Edit: **Johnny Bravo** ’s answer makes sense. They were just looking for an excuse to end the policy. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/73 "2013-09-05T22:12:51Z")
A few lemons, two ounces of vinegar, and a pound of cooked spinach. Hey, if it’s good enough for [Superman](http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/pre-crisis-reviews/pre-crisis-mmrs-intro.php?topic=c-review-pc-sup160)… ---
**Author:** ![okie\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@okie\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/okie_man)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/74 "2013-09-11T12:17:45Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Up front, I KNOW the OP is really just asking “What’s your favorite food?” It’s a perfectly fun, innocent question and I don’t want to put a damper on it. Nobody likes a threadshitter. > > Nonetheless, I have to point out (as I do whenever this topic comes up), prisons do not have a tradition, much less an obligation, to give a condemned prisoner whatever he/she wants as a last meal. > > The last meal has to be something that’s already served regularly in the prison cafeteria. Hence, convicts tend to choose their favorite dish from the usual dinners served. If the prison cafeteria serves decent fried chicken, pretty good spaghetti and meatballs, or a halfway decent cheeseburger, that’s what the convict will ask for. > > A few years ago, Texas Monthly magazine did have an interesting piece by an ex-con who used to work at the cafeteria in Huntsville prison. He often cooked last meals, and said he’d usually TRY to accommodate guys who made special requests. If a man asked for a steak as his last meal, the cafeteria guy would take hamburger meat and try to fashion some kind of steak. If a guy asked for lobster, the cook would take fish sticks, remove the crust, sautee them in some butter, and try to make an ersatz lobster. > > But real prisons don’t go out of their way to give a condemned man whatever he likes. That comes from movies and legend. > > Again, sorry to shit on a perfectly fine, fun thread. Go back to telling us your favorite dishes. The Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester OK allows inmates on death row a final meal. However they aren’t allowed to go crazy with their request. The cost of the meal cannot exceed $15 and must be selected from from a local McAlester restaurant. [http://www.okmag.com/January-2013/The-Long-Last-Walk/](http://www.okmag.com/January-2013/The-Long-Last-Walk/) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/75 "2013-09-11T13:46:30Z")
> [@okie\_man](#): > > The Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester OK allows inmates on death row a final meal. However they aren’t allowed to go crazy with their request. The cost of the meal cannot exceed $15 and must be selected from from a local McAlester restaurant. > [http://www.okmag.com/January-2013/The-Long-Last-Walk/](http://www.okmag.com/January-2013/The-Long-Last-Walk/) Sonic or Braums then ---
**Author:** ![okie\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@okie\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/okie_man)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/76 "2013-09-11T21:23:17Z")
[/QUOTE] EDIT: Weren’t there some pizza commercials one time … Pizza Hut maybe? … that showed Death Row inmates ordering the company’s product for their last meal? And they were pulled for being in poor taste? [/QUOTE] Don’t remember the exact commercial but pizza (both Pizza Hut and Domino’s) is a frequent request. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/77 "2013-09-12T01:39:29Z")
Domino’s?!? Man, they deserve the chair in that case. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/78 "2013-09-12T02:03:09Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > Why would they care if he ate it? It costs the same to the prison either way. And they could always say “Nope, too expensive.” > > Edit: **Johnny Bravo** ’s answer makes sense. They were just looking for an excuse to end the policy. Yes and not exactly. As you say, it really doesn’t make a difference to anybody if the meal is eaten or thrown away. Nobody was looking to end the policy for the almost 100 years that it was in place, and certainly nobody in the kitchen at the relatively small prison unit that the executions take place in cared. A pretty good portion of last meals go untouched anyway, as something about impending execution tends to put people off of their food. Brewer’s trip from death row to the death chamber (different places in Texas), escorted by a phalanx of DPS Troopers and Texas Rangers in cruisers, was reportedly pretty fast and bumpy due to concerns that white supremacist gangs might make trouble en route. By the time he got to the unit there’s a good chance he was too nauseous to eat the food he had previously asked for, due to the ride and the fact that he was about to die on a gurney (or he may have been just being a dick). Untouched last meals are nothing new, but Brewer was well known for the dragging murder of James Byrd and his huge untouched meal request (“two chicken steaks, a triple bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, three fajitas, a pizza, a pint of ice cream, and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts”) made the news, and nobody likes being in the news. Media uproar over wasting food, people complained angrily to politicians, politicians called on the director of the prison system to end the practice based on their “long opposition” to it, and no more last meals. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/79 "2013-09-12T04:44:09Z")
> [@golear](#): > > Depends on the method of death. If it’s the electric chair, I want 5 lbs. of raw popcorn… :D:D:D Like it. Alternative, if you’re going to be hanged, a Helium sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![Simon\_Templar\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Simon\_Templar\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simon_Templar_1)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751/80 "2013-09-16T15:18:33Z")
Two chili dogs with mustard, relish and onions. A bag of Cheeto’s and a Dr Pepper. To go please. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-on-death-row-what-would-be-your-last-meal/667751.md?page=5)