Have you ever thought about what your last meal on earth would be, if you had the choice to order it in advance? Sorry guys, I don’t mean to be macabre. The reason I have been thinking of that lately is because of a recent episode of one of my favorite TV shows, TOP CHEF, a cooking competition show on Bravo TV. Each contestant was paired with a star of the culinary world and was given the task of cooking their ideal “last meal” for them.
It was very interesting that these gastronomic superstars, who have refined and reinvented our way of thinking about food, chose very classic, old fashioned and simple dishes. Like Wylie Dufresne, a very avant-garde chef who is a major proponent of molecular gastronomy, a movement to introduce new techniques and scientific methods to prepare food, chose a simple eggs benedict. Other requests included a roasted chickens with potatos or squab with green peas, a dish that Jacques Pepin said he chose because his mother used to cook it for him as a child. So they all chose comfort food and things that took them back to happy childhood memories to taste as their last meal on earth. Interesting how we go back to the basics so quickly!
Anyways, I thought about what my own last meal would be. That is kind of difficult given that my mom never cooked! The closest thing to a childhood comfort food would be my grandmother’s persian food but honestly, I don’t see myself ordering Khoresht Ghormeh Sabzi to celebrate my last day of life. Actually, nothing with beans, garlic or onions, as I want to make a good impression when I walked past the pearly gates (hehe you never know). So that leaves out koobideh, most Italian dishes and Mexican dishes too. I do love sushi but again, I am not too crazy about having that fish taste in my mouth as I expire. I thought about all the travels I did and where I ate the most delicious meals. I came to the conclusion that a simple Mediterranean salad, with locally made Feta cheese and deliciously ripe, sweet tomatoes, scrumptious artichoke hearts, refreshing cucumbers and just the right amount of drizzled olive oil and balsamic vinegar, all with a loaf of fresh bread, was probably the best meal I have ever eaten in my life. But just as I was about to zero in on this dish, I remembered in a flash what my childhood”comfort food” was, something that I would probably never again have the opportunity to relish except for my imagination.
Back when it was considered perfectly normal to let your kids roam the streets unchaperoned, I remember every Sunday, we neighborhood kids would all be sent out in the morning to the local boulangerie (I don’t know if bakery is an accurate translation, this place was more about bread than pastries). Anyways, we all had to go way early in the morning in order to get that freshly made baguette, right out of the old fashioned bread oven. And it was cheap, oh my god, it wasn’t even one Franc if I recall. Unlike kids nowadays, we did not have to be cajoled into running this errand, or paid an allowance or anything like that. We did get a special tip though. The joy of running this errand was that on the way back home, walking slowly so as to delight in every second of it, we could get to eat the best part of the baguette: The two very crunchy golden brown domes that could be found at each end of the long stick of bread. The taste of that freshly baked bread, that would warm up your whole body as you let its fragrant goodness melt in your mouth, contrasted with the cold dewy morning, was exhilirating. I don’t think I could ever capture those moments again, even if Jacque Pepin himself decided to bake me a baguette from scratch. So that would be my “last meal.”
This is of course assuming I wouldn’t be throwing up all day and night at the thought that tomorrow is judgment day!!!
What would be your last meal of choice?
