David Cullen, Strategic Insight and Planning, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board
We are undoubtedly living in a period of identity diets, wellness and ethical expression through our food choices. This is manifest in the rise of plant-based and functional dietary lifestyles in Ireland and around the world.
This begs the question “is this what people really want to eat”? What would they choose if they were unencumbered by the pressures that dictate what they feel they should eat or that society tells them they shouldn’t eat? Getting to grips with this is surprisingly challenging considering the veil of desirable responses that cloak the truth when we ask people directly about their food preferences. Perhaps a more circuitous route can help to get to the truth of what people really want to eat.
A deeply dark and sardonic option that may provide some insight in this area is to ask about their preferred last meal on Earth. How many would choose steak, how many a salad or a vegan curry?
A non-peer-reviewed survey of 2,000 UK citizens by Wishlockr reveal that a roast dinner with all the trimmings is the preferred final meal, followed by other comfort foods; steak and chips, fish and chips, a fry-up, pizza and curry. Interestingly 16-24 year olds opted for McDonalds, KFC and pizza! Regardless of age, choices are devoid of eco-ethical or health concerns!
A New York underground dining club, Studiofeast, asked their mailing list this question and on New Year’s Eve in 2011, 2012 and 2013 held an invitation only banquet called Last Meal featuring the leading “last meal on earth” requests. If you are interested you can see the last Meal from 2013 here.
History is littered with the mythology of the last meal from Ancient Greece and Rome, but more recently former French President Francois Mitterand enjoyed platters of oysters and foie grás with a tiny, endangered songbird called a l’ortolan. No judgement!
Hemingway is reputed to have enjoyed a last meal featuring steak, baked potato, Caesar salad and a glass of Bordeaux before taking his own life.
To go even deeper and darker in exploring this most-brutal of choice tasks, food photographer Henry Hargreaves documented death-row dinners in the US. Fried Chicken, Chocolate, Ice Cream, Pizza and Lobster all make an appearance, but Steak it seems is the food of choice when there are no seconds!
So, what can we learn from this? Is it evidence that we frequently suppress our wishes in the interest of some mitigating force when it comes to food? That health and wellness and arterial health means little on death row or is it simply the case that death row inmates aren’t aligned with society’s dietary trends?
For me it shows the evocative power of food and its unique ability to encapsulate earthly pleasure in the face of our mortality.
To find out more about the trends shaping the choices of consumers who aren’t facing their imminent demise, check out Bord Bia’s Consumer Lifestyle Trends.
References:
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/last-meals-of-death-row/15/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/brits-reveal-last-meal-want-12989045