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esearchers at Cornell University recently completed an important study. They examined 193 last-meal requests from prisoners on death row in the United States. All but two were from men and all of the men were executed between 2002 and 2006. While the research is important for its general findings and its potential to affect the health of inmates facing immediate execution, the scientists stopped too early. To gain perspective and add depth to the study they could have compared these recent last suppers to the one eaten by another condemned man almost 2000 years ago. An investigation of this kind must ensure that apples are compared to apples or, in this case, bad apples to the son of God. Two conditions must be met to ensure the purity of results. First, the subjects must know for certain that they are about to die. Second, it is important that the knowledge of impending death does not curtail the condemned man’s appetite. Both of these requirements are fulfilled in the Cornell study and in the earlier case. As no menu exists from Christ’s last meal, it must be inferred from biblical sources, paintings, historical writings and archaeology. Certainly bread and wine were at the Last Sup-
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El Ojo del Lago / January 2014
per. Other possible beverages were water and goat’s milk. Probable foods were figs, pomegranates, dates, olives, beans, barley, peas, lettuce, peppers and lentils. Lamb was unlikely as it was a rich man’s food. Fish was the most plausible meat. We can see that a middle class diet 2000 years ago in the Holy Land was nutritionally balanced and had little potential to promote heart disease, diabetes or cancer. There is no evidence whatsoever that Jesus contracted any of those diseases in the time between the Last Supper and the Crucifiction. Contrast this to the modern condemned man. The Cornell study showed that last meals tended to be high in calories and heavy on meat. The most requested items were French fries, soda, ice cream, hamburgers, chicken, steak and pie. Some statistics: Two-thirds of the condemned ordered fried foods and they ordered dessert at the same rate. Men who were about to die were five times more likely to request soda than milk. Vegetables were not at all popular. The average last meal request contained a whopping 2756 calories—more than twice the daily requirement and especially more than anyone needs to make it to next morning’s execution. Some last meals added up to more than 7200 calories. I don’t know what it says about the tastes of condemned men but a number of them requested takeout from McDonald’s, KFC and Wendy’s. One prisoner ordered 12 pieces of fried chicken, two buttered rolls, mashed potatoes with brown gravy, two sodas and a pint each of strawberry and vanilla ice cream. Two specific examples are illustrative of where we are and where we might go in the future. I interviewed Mad Dog Jeffrey, a notorious 12 yearold delinquent just before his execution. He was convicted of smothering his babysitter by holding her face down in a bowl of mashed potatoes. “She tried to stop me from eating my