Latest / Ridiculous History / The Disturbing History of Last Meals, Part Two: Famous Final Snacks

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The Disturbing History of Last Meals, Part Two: Famous Final Snacks · Ridiculous History

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Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to
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Speaker 1: the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much
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Speaker 1: for tuning in. This is part two of our Ridiculous
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Speaker 1: History of Last Meals.
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Speaker 2: And if I may extend a heartfelt apology to Jonathan
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Speaker 2: trick Let the Quist for implying that you would eat
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Speaker 2: human flesh for his last meal. I hope you know
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Speaker 2: that was a joke. Jonathan's a pescatarian. I don't think
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Speaker 2: humans fall into that range of cuisine for not for
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Speaker 2: our pelic quist, or at least it could be that
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Speaker 2: lab grown artificial human meat that isn't really thingfu. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: We also want to say a big, big thing shout
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Speaker 1: out to our guest producer Paul Wygoo as well as
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Speaker 1: our producer mister Max Williams. You're an old brown. I'm
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Speaker 1: been bowling. This is part two of our series. And
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Speaker 1: uh man, this is a roller coaster.
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Speaker 2: Speaking of roller coaster, let's roll that beautiful bean footage.
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Speaker 2: This notion that it's like somehow some kind of rorshack
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Speaker 2: tests you know, I guess into the psyche of of
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Speaker 2: of this individual, or at the very least people are
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Speaker 2: like you know, as is evidenced by the absolute absurd
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Speaker 2: in my opinion, popularity of true crime. People are just
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Speaker 2: like absolutely obsessed with like humanizing the inhuman, you know
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Speaker 2: what I mean, like like in some way getting inside
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Speaker 2: the mind of a cold killer. And when you realize
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Speaker 2: that they like they like pizza too. I like pizza,
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Speaker 2: you know. I mean, maybe I'm overstating it or being
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Speaker 2: a little globe, but I do feel like that obsession
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Speaker 2: with this stuff is a bit toxic, you know, and
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Speaker 2: it's not my favorite. And you know, when we talk
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Speaker 2: about this stuff on stuff they don't want you to know,
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Speaker 2: or on this show, it comes up from time to time.
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Speaker 2: We're never trying to like, I.
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Speaker 3: Don't know, like or whatever.
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Speaker 2: You're exploited. And this does inherently feel the obsession with
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Speaker 2: this a little exploitive.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we're talking about you know, absolute monsters, right,
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Speaker 1: spree killers, mass murderers, serial murderers. This, this does become
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Speaker 1: red meat for the public because people are interested in
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Speaker 1: food and crime. And you nailed it, man, There's this
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Speaker 1: aspect of it that gets really close to a rorshack
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Speaker 1: test or in rams or astrology, reading tea leaves and saying,
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Speaker 1: how can I what if any unique insight does this
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Speaker 1: give us about someone like John Wayne Gacy asked for
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Speaker 1: shrimp fried chicken, french fries and a pound of strawberries.
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Speaker 1: It's similar, you know, it's similar to the gray market
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Speaker 1: trade in serial killer memorabilia a little bit, you know
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Speaker 1: what I mean?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, And like you know, I mean, no, I guess food.
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Speaker 2: I don't know if it was McDonald's french fry and
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Speaker 2: someone got there there those things never decay.
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Speaker 3: I don't know if you know this, but there was.
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Speaker 2: I believe I might have even been in that pretty
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Speaker 2: debunked documentary Supersized Me, where it turns out Morgan Spurlock,
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Speaker 2: who did pass away recently, no Shae on the on
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Speaker 2: the deceased, but there were some things about that that
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Speaker 2: were very disingenuous in terms of like his you know,
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Speaker 2: expose of McDonald's or whatever. But one thing that always
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Speaker 2: sticks stuck with me and I have found to be
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Speaker 2: true is that McDonald's french fries don't like, they don't rot,
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Speaker 2: they don't kay, they don't mold, they just kind of crystallized.
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Speaker 2: So someone could have gotten their hands. I wanted John
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Speaker 2: Wayne Gacy's left over French fries. And like you know,
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Speaker 2: sold it for a bunch of money on the gray market.
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Speaker 2: Oh that's terrible. Oh gosh, that is terrible. I did
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Speaker 2: not think of that.
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Speaker 1: We also know Timothy McVeigh, the infamous bomber ate two
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Speaker 1: pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream. There is one
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Speaker 1: story that stood out to me speaking of the humanity
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Speaker 1: sometimes found in these broken systems. A convict in Tennessee
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Speaker 1: named Philip Workman was on death row and he requested
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Speaker 1: that he requested a last meal, not for himself. He
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Speaker 1: wanted vegetarian pizzas to be distributed to homeless shelters in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Speaker 1: The prison officials denied his request, but local activist groups
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Speaker 1: got together and they handed out hundreds of pizzas to
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Speaker 1: Nashville homeless shelters, as a story in CNN in two
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Speaker 1: thousand and seven by Ashley fans fan tz, So do.
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Speaker 2: Check that out.
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Speaker 1: We know there are a lot of limits in multiple states.
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Speaker 1: For instance, in Oklahoma, the laws on the books, because
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Speaker 1: I believe they stand now say quote, reasonable effort should
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Speaker 1: be made to accommodate a request which shall not exceed
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Speaker 1: twenty five dollars.
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Speaker 2: Dang no boluga caviar for old Timmy McVeigh. Yes, God,
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Speaker 2: he got the mint chocolate chip. Though. How do you
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Speaker 2: feel about mint chocolate chip ice cream? Ben, I'm okay
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Speaker 2: with it. It's not ever going to be my favorite, but
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Speaker 2: I feel the same way. Yeah, it gives toothpaste a
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Speaker 2: little bit. There's something in my mind that always goes
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Speaker 2: to like I'm literally consuming toothpaste with little studs of
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Speaker 2: chocolate in it, you know, But each there, I.
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Speaker 1: Wonder if I don't know this, I would have to
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Speaker 1: look into it further. But I wonder if Timothy McVeigh
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Speaker 1: was a smoker, and if so, maybe the mental or
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Speaker 1: the strong mint had some kind of.
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Speaker 2: Appeal to him. Maybe so Also to get in front
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Speaker 2: of this question, yes, historically, a lot of people ask
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Speaker 2: for tobacco, a lot of people ask for booze, some
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Speaker 2: variety of alcohol. You know. It's again, it's that old Uh,
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Speaker 2: it's that old film.
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Speaker 3: Trope, right, firing squad and the firing cigare.
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Speaker 1: Cigarette and only one of the people shooting at you
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Speaker 1: has a bullet in their rifle. Right, so you can
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Speaker 1: hide your sin from God.
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Speaker 2: Like the Orderlagne, right, Exactly, a lot of ethical quandaries
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Speaker 2: with food and finality, Food and finality, that's what we're
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Speaker 2: It makes me think of the butter tax, you know,
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Speaker 2: like all of this these notions there history of like
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Speaker 2: what can we do to trick God into thinking that
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Speaker 2: we are somehow more pious than we actually are? And
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Speaker 2: that in and of itself fields kind of sacrilegious, doesn't it?
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Speaker 2: The notion that we could fool God or like hide
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Speaker 2: from God, not how it works. I love it.
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Speaker 1: I love the idea that you fundamentally believe in this
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Speaker 1: all powerful, all knowing, like omniscient, omnipotent entity that is
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Speaker 1: just a sucker for loopholes.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, you can't see through that cloth over your head,
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Speaker 2: you know, shrudge when you munch down on that tiny bird.
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Speaker 2: But yeah, Florida Back to Florida has a bit of
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Speaker 2: a moralistic kind of axiom built into their proceedings to
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Speaker 2: avoid extravagance. They're a little less cheap than Oklahoma, though
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Speaker 2: their last meal requests cannot exceed forty dollars must be
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Speaker 2: available to buy locally, so no imported.
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Speaker 3: You know, fine cheeses or what have you.
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Speaker 1: No kazu marzu for you, right, which would be a
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Speaker 1: very strange thing to request.
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Speaker 2: What is that? That's the that's the cheese that with
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Speaker 2: the maggots. Yeah, yeah, you got to be kind of
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Speaker 2: in the Sardinian underground.
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Speaker 3: What's illegal?
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Speaker 2: It's it's like, yeah, I mean, it's just because it's
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Speaker 2: like you know also, I mean when I was in Spain,
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Speaker 2: I kind of forgot this. I think I knew it
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Speaker 2: at some point, but like certain the way they make
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Speaker 2: their yamm over there, like the really really fancy ham,
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Speaker 2: the processes that they use over there make it illegal
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Speaker 2: to bring it back to the States. Oh. I went
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Speaker 2: to like a little little stand that was selling and
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Speaker 2: I bought like some pre packet stuff, and the butcher
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Speaker 2: was kind enough to remind me or tell me for
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Speaker 2: the first time. Like I say, again I've known in
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Speaker 2: the past that he said, don't bring that on your
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Speaker 2: carry on, don't bring that on the plane. I was like, oh, bro,
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Speaker 2: I'm gonna that here. I'm here for a little bit.
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Speaker 2: But I think that's very interesting. Yeah, that's news to me.
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Speaker 1: So wait, because you can buy like Iberian ham here
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Speaker 1: in the States, right.
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Speaker 2: But it's different when you buy it over there. The
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Speaker 2: processes are different, they're under a different set of standards.
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Speaker 2: Over there, and I guess what sort of like raw
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Speaker 2: milk is in some ways like not legal in certain
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Speaker 2: parts of the world.
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Speaker 1: Same deal, Okay, all right, well max of what I
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Speaker 1: could get a the more you know, Q just close
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Speaker 1: enough to keep us from getting food.
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Speaker 2: Perfect.
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Speaker 1: And we also know that, aside from monetary restrictions, there
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Speaker 1: are other limitations that keep this from being the full
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Speaker 1: buffet experience you often see portrayed in fiction. A lot
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Speaker 1: of prison systems will only honor requests like Virginia used
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Speaker 1: to do, for food that's already available within the prison system.
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Speaker 1: And it's not hard to imagine why this would be
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Speaker 1: the case. Right, this is very sensitive stuff. If you
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Speaker 1: are a person who supports the death penalty in your state,
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Speaker 1: this could seem like giving an extravagant last meal could
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Speaker 1: feel like a deeply offensive favor to a genuine monster,
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Speaker 1: you know what I mean, kind of spitting in the
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Speaker 1: face of the surviving family members. And then let's say
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Speaker 1: you're more agnostic on the idea of capital punishment and
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Speaker 1: the death penalty, but you're very concerned about the government waste, right,
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Speaker 1: wasteful government spending, then you might see last meals as
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Speaker 1: a no brainer. Thing to cut from the budget, right, Like,
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Speaker 1: why am I this guy is going to die? Why
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Speaker 1: are we spending so much money per prisoner giving them
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Speaker 1: a steakhouse meal?
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Speaker 2: Well, according to Amnesty International, or actually an article on
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Speaker 2: ambscy International, California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice
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Speaker 2: did a studies is back in two thousand and eight.
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Speaker 2: So I imagine it's risen or maybe not, because you know,
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Speaker 2: there are fewer of these cases. It does seem like
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Speaker 2: death penalty is sort of losing its luster in a way.
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Speaker 2: But they say, using conservative rough projections, the Commission estimates
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Speaker 2: the annual costs of the present system one hundred and
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Speaker 2: thirty seven million per year, the present system after implementation
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Speaker 2: of reforms which we're being discussed at this point two
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Speaker 2: hundred and thirty two point seven million per year, and
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Speaker 2: a system which imposes a maximum penalty of lifetime incarceration
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Speaker 2: instead of the death penalty only eleven point five.
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Speaker 3: Million a year. Oh, it's already very very expensive, is one.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, it is true. Adding some filet mignons to that,
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Speaker 2: probably a little bit, adding insult injury.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. There's a symbolic aspect to it, right that
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Speaker 1: people can find deeply offensive, and if we're being completely honest,
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Speaker 1: outside of these various caveats, there is a lot of
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Speaker 1: wiggle room. Some states still have no real constraints on
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Speaker 1: what can be defined as a last meal other than
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Speaker 1: the discretion of the warden and the prison staff. And
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Speaker 1: the obsession we've had or you know, not saying whom,
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Speaker 1: but some of us have had over the past few
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Speaker 1: months fundamentally traces back to this. I would argue the
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Speaker 1: idea of a moment of humanity even for the worst
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Speaker 1: of the worst, amid this inarguably broken system. Let's say, no,
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Speaker 1: you and me and you listening along with us at home,
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Speaker 1: are fellow ridiculous historian. Let's say we're all career prison professionals.
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Speaker 1: Now at this point we've met the absolute worst, right,
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Speaker 1: the dregs of humanity. We also probably have met people
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Speaker 1: who might be innocent victims of the system, or we've
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Speaker 1: met otherwise decent people that made a single life ruining mistake.
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Speaker 1: And we you know, we get to know these over
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Speaker 1: the years, right, and we know one thing for sure,
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Speaker 1: they're not walking out of the prison grounds ever again.
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Speaker 1: So maybe we can go above and beyond use our
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Speaker 1: own time and money to try an honor a request
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Speaker 1: of the last meal.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and that scenario you describe ben about like the
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Speaker 2: life and experiences of like a career prison administrator, guard, whatever,
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Speaker 2: people that actually spend time with these people and begin to,
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Speaker 2: for better or worse, see them as human beings. Maybe
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Speaker 2: it has an age as well as I think, but
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Speaker 2: I do. I do think the show OZ, which has
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Speaker 2: a bit of a dated look to it, it's a
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Speaker 2: very early HBO series. It explores this stuff in depth,
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Speaker 2: and it has, like all of the types of prison
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Speaker 2: inmates that you're describing, I think, portrayed in a very
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Speaker 2: humanistic and interesting way. So I would recommend giving it.
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Speaker 2: It's not for the faint of heart. It's definitely heavy.
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Speaker 2: It's not a fun show per se. But I think
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Speaker 2: it's really really good. I rewatch it every handful of years,
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Speaker 2: and I think it probably has aged relatively well and
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Speaker 2: feels pretty relevant, you know, especially when it comes to
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Speaker 2: this kind of conversation.
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Speaker 1: I want to thank several authors here, Brian Price Meals
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Speaker 1: to Die For. We also want to thank Angela L.
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Speaker 1: Pagan in her article The History and Evolution of the
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Speaker 1: Last Meal. The main takeaway from this exploration if take
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Speaker 1: away there be oh god, not a takeaway joke. It's this,
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Speaker 1: eat every meal as though it is you get take
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Speaker 1: take out. Yeah, it took me a second. Let's see
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Speaker 1: it this way. Eat every meal as though it is
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Speaker 1: your last life is to be lived, and for a
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Speaker 1: brief time we are all here to live it together.
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Speaker 1: With that, we couldn't leave you on a huge doubter.
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Speaker 1: Right of the ridiculous history of last meal, the ethical quandaries,
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Speaker 1: we wanted to share some tangents in trivia some famous
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Speaker 1: last meals. Now, often people are going to talk about
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Speaker 1: serial killers when they when they talk about last meals,
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Speaker 1: we'll give you, well, you know what, let's give folks
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Speaker 1: just like a few of those, and then let's get
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Speaker 1: the non criminal last meals.
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Speaker 2: Maybe.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
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Speaker 2: I think this is all really interesting because thus far
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Speaker 2: I don't believe we've we've given you any real world examples,
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Speaker 2: just kind of more in the area of like like this,
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Speaker 2: this is what's on the table kind of a meal
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Speaker 2: a meal pun But before Eileen Richard Mallory was executed
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Speaker 2: in two thousand and one for the first screen murder
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Speaker 2: of Richard Mallory, she just had a simple cup of coffee,
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Speaker 2: you know, one, one cup of coffee. You don't know
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Speaker 2: how she took it. No refills, no refills, one I
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Speaker 2: don't know. Man, I would want like an espresso, you know,
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Speaker 2: something real robust. You're right, you want the good coffee. Well,
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Speaker 2: one of those New York's best cup cups of coffee.
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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, who regulates that?
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Speaker 2: No one, I say, But yeah, let's go to another
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Speaker 2: example from nineteen ninety nine.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, a guy named Marion Albert Pruitt was a spree killer,
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Speaker 1: requested a lot of stuff he is. His order was
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Speaker 1: one of the more controversial ones. Pizza hut, stuffed crust pizza,
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Speaker 1: four burger king whoppers, French fries, fried egg plant, fried squash,
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Speaker 1: fried okra, a whole pecan pie, three two liter Pepsi bottles.
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Speaker 1: And then he also noted to the prison staff he
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Speaker 1: originally considered ordering an entire roast duck.
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Speaker 2: Doesn't this seem like a bit of an example of
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Speaker 2: kind of taking the piss exactly?
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Speaker 1: That's that's one of the controversial ones because he wears
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Speaker 1: so much stuff. There was a guy named the Butcher,
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Speaker 1: or called the Butcher of Hanover Fritz vintage example right, Yeah,
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Speaker 1: and a very nasty fellow. He asked for a cigar
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Speaker 1: and a cup of coffee. And you can find a
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Speaker 1: lot of descriptions of criminal's last meals, just very very
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Speaker 1: horrible people. We also want to tell you about non
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Speaker 1: criminal last meals, because here's the other.
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Speaker 3: Thing, arguably non criminal.
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Speaker 2: I mean, there's a couple on this list that did
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Speaker 2: some pretty gnarly things.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, I know who you're talking about, So let's
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Speaker 1: open with him for his last meal in eighteen twenty one,
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Speaker 1: Napoleon Bonaparte eight liver and bacon chops paired with sheared
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Speaker 1: eggs and cream, saute kidneys and sherry and garlic toast
17:46
Speaker 1: with roasted tomatoes. All right, So one of my first questions,
17:50
Speaker 1: I think you had the same one.
17:52
Speaker 2: What are shared eggs?
17:54
Speaker 3: You know, that's funny, you should ask Ben. I just
17:55
Speaker 3: googled that very thing.
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Speaker 2: It's it's almost I think maybe a kin to like
18:00
Speaker 2: coddled eggs or a poached egg, but it's more in
18:04
Speaker 2: a little sou flee dish, so very French, very soft
18:09
Speaker 2: and like in a single dish, kind of like you
18:11
Speaker 2: crack them in there and probably bake them on low heat.
18:14
Speaker 2: So that they're still running on top, but they are
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Speaker 2: kind of one thing. Okay, this is all of this
18:20
Speaker 2: cuisine that Napoleon requested about as French as it comes.
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Speaker 2: This is some real French French delicacies.
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Speaker 1: He was used to the good life Ernest hemmy way
18:30
Speaker 1: at a New York strip with caesar salad and a
18:33
Speaker 1: baked potato and then probably a lot of wine. And
18:38
Speaker 1: we owe our buddy Max the next one.
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Speaker 3: We sure do.
18:42
Speaker 2: On April fourteenth, eighteen sixty five, President Abraham Lincoln sat
18:48
Speaker 2: down for about as American a meal as one could
18:51
Speaker 2: imagine at the time. He enjoyed a roast Virginia fowl.
18:57
Speaker 2: Now I'm sorry, what is like? Is this a quail?
19:00
Speaker 2: Is this a chicken? A fowl is a very all
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Speaker 2: encompassing term. It's kind of an umbrella term. Yeah, But
19:05
Speaker 2: with we talked about this off off air ben chestnut stuffing,
19:08
Speaker 2: which is still a very popular Americana classic Thanksgiving preparation,
19:15
Speaker 2: you know, like sort of like walnut stuffing or including nuts,
19:18
Speaker 2: but chestn roasted chestnuts in the stuffing, baked yams and cauliflower.
19:25
Speaker 3: With cheese sauce, which I guess I thought was a much.
19:28
Speaker 2: More like modern kind of health Golden Corral type dish,
19:33
Speaker 2: you know what I mean?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I felt like maybe it was a less carbon
19:39
Speaker 1: heavy alternative to macc and cheese. But yeah, he liked
19:42
Speaker 1: the cauliflower, he liked the cheese sauce, and who doesn't
19:45
Speaker 1: love colding Corral for everybody out.
19:48
Speaker 2: Chocolate waterfall me, it's not sanitary, all don't do it,
19:53
Speaker 2: it's not good, but do check out?
19:55
Speaker 1: Was it Golden Corral who had the training video that
19:58
Speaker 1: went viral?
19:59
Speaker 2: Where because the old country buffet, which was a favorite
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Speaker 2: of my youth?
20:04
Speaker 3: How's how's just this the sports.
20:06
Speaker 2: Ball team doing? Hey oh hot out there today, isn't it?
20:11
Speaker 4: Ha ha ha? All right?
20:13
Speaker 3: Cutting your cutting your your meat for.
20:15
Speaker 2: You you're like pot roasts or whatever.
20:17
Speaker 3: Children are a very important addition to our Golden Corral
20:20
Speaker 3: family and often determine what restaurant choices parents will make,
20:24
Speaker 3: So make sure to have a little conversation for them
20:26
Speaker 3: to so, uh what what great are you in?
20:29
Speaker 2: Exactly?
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Speaker 3: It real that that video free in my please let's
20:34
Speaker 3: flee ecliped.
20:36
Speaker 4: As a carver, you spend a little more time with
20:39
Speaker 4: guests their team members. That means you have a great
20:42
Speaker 4: chance to make them feel welcome and appreciated. Let's take
20:45
Speaker 4: a closer look at greeting guests. Every conversation you hold
20:49
Speaker 4: with guests should.
20:50
Speaker 2: Begin something like this.
20:52
Speaker 4: Amy once you've greeted the guest, start a brief conversation.
20:56
Speaker 4: Try asking a question the guest can answer innocents or two.
21:00
Speaker 4: You might ask something like this, is.
21:02
Speaker 3: It still hot out there?
21:04
Speaker 2: Did you catch a game last night?
21:06
Speaker 3: Have you chriv with mosagnya? It's my favorite?
21:09
Speaker 4: Don't forget to hold quick conversations with our younger guests, too,
21:13
Speaker 4: So start conversations with children by saying.
21:16
Speaker 3: Something like this, what grade are you in at school?
21:19
Speaker 3: Have you decided what dessert you're going to have?
21:21
Speaker 2: Do you like hot bud Sundays? There it is Eddy's
21:24
Speaker 2: slicing Pride?
21:25
Speaker 3: Rib Hey, what graty? Hello, little boy?
21:31
Speaker 2: It's so strange?
21:32
Speaker 3: And what do you want for Christmas?
21:34
Speaker 2: Because the guys the guy's eyes are kind of dead,
21:37
Speaker 2: like a little too close together.
21:39
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, I don't know. Yeah, there's something off, but.
21:41
Speaker 1: He's like looking back and forth as though someone's about
21:45
Speaker 1: to compromise his real identity.
21:47
Speaker 3: Does appear that way.
21:48
Speaker 1: He looks intensely uncomfortable, and we speaking in pop culture,
21:52
Speaker 1: we want to give you a story of a tremendously
21:56
Speaker 1: controversial commercial that came out in nineteen eighty five.
22:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, Pizza Hut ran with a commercial where a prisoner
22:06
Speaker 2: sentenced to death orders Pizza Hut as his last meal.
22:10
Speaker 3: This is who green lit this.
22:13
Speaker 2: This is like, oh my goodness, I mean that is
22:16
Speaker 2: really pretty tasteless. The prisoner in the commercial gets pardoned
22:21
Speaker 2: at the last minute, okay, like, what are you playing
22:24
Speaker 2: at here? Pizza Hut eighty five and then I believe
22:28
Speaker 2: the inmate that we mentioned that got Pizza Hut stuff
22:30
Speaker 2: Cruss wasn't until ninety nine, but the ad was nevertheless
22:33
Speaker 2: particularly upsetting two viewers in South Carolina, where a man
22:37
Speaker 2: who recently was on death row had ordered pizza for
22:39
Speaker 2: his last meal before his execution. It was taken off
22:43
Speaker 2: the air, and I bet you there's not even YouTube
22:46
Speaker 2: evidence of this. Maybe there is, I don't believe so though.
22:49
Speaker 1: It's just soulless, you know, it's bad taste. One of
22:53
Speaker 1: the best books on famous last meals we mentioned previously
22:57
Speaker 1: is Meals to Die For by Brian D.
22:59
Speaker 3: Price.
23:01
Speaker 1: Price was formerly an inmate assigned to the Walls Unit
23:05
Speaker 1: in Huntsville, Texas, and during his ten years there, he
23:10
Speaker 1: prepared almost two hundred last meals for incarcerated people. His
23:17
Speaker 1: book includes something like forty four different recipes as well.
23:21
Speaker 1: It's a very specific read, and it is one of
23:25
Speaker 1: the best books because it's by someone with firsthand experience.
23:30
Speaker 1: But we wanted to end with this, Folks, We have
23:34
Speaker 1: asked many friends and colleagues for their ideal last meals.
23:39
Speaker 1: We want to give you a few. No, let's start
23:42
Speaker 1: with our good friend Annie Reese, the co host of
23:45
Speaker 1: our food show Saver.
23:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, and a bit of a foodie. One of three categories.
23:50
Speaker 2: And I love this because I thought I was going
23:52
Speaker 2: to mention this the idea of nostalgia, right, because that's
23:55
Speaker 2: kind of where mine's going to fall. Peanut butter and
23:58
Speaker 2: jelly with mac and cheese. Then there's second end. A
24:00
Speaker 2: second category, a seafood mushroom pasta I had with a
24:04
Speaker 2: calorie count that will make you swoon, or something I
24:07
Speaker 2: want all the time, like tuna, sashimi or sushi in general,
24:12
Speaker 2: and pair it with a nice wine. Yeah. No word
24:16
Speaker 2: on whether it's a kianti kanti A sorry edie for
24:22
Speaker 2: any Missophonia. People out there, please forgive me. Edie just
24:26
Speaker 2: said a nice wine.
24:27
Speaker 1: And then our pals Jack O'Brien and Miles Gray at
24:32
Speaker 1: The Daily's I guys said this. Jack said either fried
24:35
Speaker 1: chicken or a sloppy cheese smash burger and shout out
24:40
Speaker 1: to oh wait.
24:41
Speaker 2: No, you made your face. You got it. Only that,
24:44
Speaker 2: Miles is a thing that we've also talked about off
24:46
Speaker 2: off mic and and this it didn't come up because
24:49
Speaker 2: it's honestly too ridiculous to ever work.
24:52
Speaker 3: But Adam Friedland, who used to be on I think
24:54
Speaker 3: it was.
24:56
Speaker 2: Chopout Trap House Podcast and and and others, he's got
24:59
Speaker 2: a bit series that he's been doing recently.
25:02
Speaker 3: I think he stopped doing it.
25:02
Speaker 2: But he was interviewing some comic who suggested that they
25:05
Speaker 2: were talking about last meals, and the comic who's I
25:08
Speaker 2: apologize name escaped to me said that he would ask
25:11
Speaker 2: to eat the electric chair. Uh he said a time, yeah,
25:15
Speaker 2: you know, in the in the hopes of staying his execution.
25:19
Speaker 2: And then again, his whole joke was contingent on this
25:23
Speaker 2: myth of like you just magically get whatever you want
25:26
Speaker 2: and there's nothing's off limits. And then once they reset it.
25:30
Speaker 2: Because of the ada fixed the electric chair, you ask
25:32
Speaker 2: for it again. Obviously that's absurd on a couple of levels.
25:36
Speaker 2: But Miles was was kind of barking up the same
25:38
Speaker 2: electric chair there in saying that he would keep changing
25:42
Speaker 2: his mind and dithering to delay execution. I love it.
25:46
Speaker 2: Also classic Miles.
25:49
Speaker 3: He's always playing. He's playing three D chess.
25:52
Speaker 2: Everybody who plays chess has played three D chess.
25:54
Speaker 3: Though, Yeah, it's that.
25:56
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you, I'll use that expression a forty Yes, sure,
26:02
Speaker 2: that's a very good point.
26:05
Speaker 3: Good ding dong.
26:12
Speaker 2: I'll tell you who's not a ding dong though. Lauren
26:14
Speaker 2: Vogelbaum over at Saver, and he's co host who said
26:16
Speaker 2: something comforting nineteen eighties Americana interesting gets much maligned. Eighties
26:22
Speaker 2: cuisine gets much maligned in some of these foodie circles.
26:25
Speaker 2: So I appreciate Lauren standing up for eighties cuisine. Pasta
26:29
Speaker 2: alfredo or a steak with mashed potatoes and asparagus, or
26:33
Speaker 2: some good seared scallops.
26:35
Speaker 3: I do love a good seared scalps. You're gonna be careful.
26:38
Speaker 3: You can overcook them really so easily.
26:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe your old man got into the conversation too.
26:44
Speaker 3: No one was safe, no worry.
26:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, our special guest, Potter Familius, said, Colonel. Yeah, the
26:55
Speaker 1: colonel said, dessert on dessert, vanilla ice cream finished with
27:00
Speaker 1: a second course of flaud or crapon breulat quote, since
27:04
Speaker 1: you don't have to worry about the calories. Also no toppings.
27:09
Speaker 1: Very clear about that, called himself a somewhat militant vanilla
27:13
Speaker 1: ice cream purist.
27:14
Speaker 2: Well, you know, vanilla ice cream at its best is
27:18
Speaker 2: anything but what the term vanilla has come to represent.
27:21
Speaker 3: You know, I would.
27:21
Speaker 1: Argue, right, yeah, exactly, And let's not forget that vanilla
27:27
Speaker 1: back in the day was this incredibly strange and high class.
27:32
Speaker 3: Rarefied right, talked about it very recently.
27:35
Speaker 2: I check out if you missed it, our episode on
27:37
Speaker 2: artificial flavorings and how you know, how dear that substance was,
27:42
Speaker 2: and how you know, to the point where you just
27:43
Speaker 2: couldn't get enough of it and they had to like
27:45
Speaker 2: figure out how to make some version of it that
27:47
Speaker 2: they could mass produce and sell because people just loved
27:49
Speaker 2: it so damn much. Our dear dear friend and colleague
27:52
Speaker 2: Matt Frederick over it. Stuff they don't want you to
27:54
Speaker 2: know man after my own heart, culinarily speaking, because I
27:57
Speaker 2: love this dish as well. But he is a bit
27:59
Speaker 2: of a spice hound, so he wants his green curry
28:03
Speaker 2: tie Hot, which if you're not familiar, if you go
28:05
Speaker 2: to a Thai restaurant, they'll have the star system oftentimes
28:08
Speaker 2: or the Pepper system, you know, and then there's one
28:11
Speaker 2: that's off the charts, and that's usually referred to as
28:13
Speaker 2: tye Hot.
28:14
Speaker 3: And you know, oftentimes if you go in there and
28:17
Speaker 3: order it that.
28:17
Speaker 2: Way, you will get a little bit of a Really
28:19
Speaker 2: that's really what that's really what Matt wants. Then, yeah,
28:22
Speaker 2: that is really what he wants.
28:24
Speaker 1: When we asked him, hey, do you want rice with
28:26
Speaker 1: that as well, he specifically said no, I'll just drink
28:30
Speaker 1: it like a fine soup.
28:32
Speaker 3: A fine soup, said, like a true bone vivante.
28:36
Speaker 2: And Max Williams, our long suffering super producer who will
28:39
Speaker 2: return with us soon. He said that he would want
28:44
Speaker 2: a large caesar salad and two slices of New York
28:47
Speaker 2: style pizza so that it doesn't even have to be
28:50
Speaker 2: particularly good, just big and floppy and just cheese too.
28:54
Speaker 2: Normally he'd want toppings, but he feels like that would
28:57
Speaker 2: take attention away from the salad. He wants his last
29:01
Speaker 2: meal to be very balanced.
29:03
Speaker 1: And in classic we know you're listening man, In classic
29:09
Speaker 1: Max fashion, he continued, and he says, the salad is
29:14
Speaker 1: the main dish. Let's not get this s twisted. I
29:19
Speaker 1: may not even finish the pizza, but I am eating
29:23
Speaker 1: a F word salad over here. Don't want anyone thinking
29:27
Speaker 1: I'm some big F word health nut or something and
29:31
Speaker 1: going out with just a salad. But truthfully, the salad
29:35
Speaker 1: is the only part I care about.
29:37
Speaker 3: That's wild.
29:39
Speaker 2: See now this is a really interesting example of last meal.
29:43
Speaker 2: As Rorshach tests, Max didn't even have to explain all
29:46
Speaker 2: of that to us. He did do us that courtesy.
29:48
Speaker 2: But I think, honestly, the way he said it originally
29:51
Speaker 2: said it all. I like the emphatic nature. No, Max
29:55
Speaker 2: is nothing if not emphatic. That's true. That is very
29:59
Speaker 2: much our all the freight train.
30:01
Speaker 1: We also want to give a shout out to our
30:04
Speaker 1: colleagues John Wallzac and Chris Brown, good friends of our
30:09
Speaker 1: pal Paul Decant, the masterminds behind Missing the Missing series
30:14
Speaker 1: right Missing in Alaska, Missy on nine to eleven. Their
30:18
Speaker 1: newest show is Missing in Arizona, which is live now
30:21
Speaker 1: wherever you want to find your favorite.
30:24
Speaker 2: Shows, Ben, and then give yourself a little credit executive
30:27
Speaker 2: producer of this and very involved in the process too.
30:30
Speaker 2: Oh I will.
30:31
Speaker 1: I will help out with with some scripts. But this
30:34
Speaker 1: is really Paul's baby.
30:36
Speaker 4: Like you.
30:37
Speaker 2: This is also something that you've been shepherding along all
30:40
Speaker 2: the while, and I'm very excited to check it out.
30:42
Speaker 2: So please do listen to Missing in Arizona wherever you
30:45
Speaker 2: get your fine podcast soups. There it is. Oh I
30:49
Speaker 2: love it, Thank you so much. We asked.
30:53
Speaker 1: We asked our buddy John Wallzac, the host of Missing,
30:57
Speaker 1: and John said the following, I'm going to say, for
31:01
Speaker 1: final meal appetizer, shrimp cocktail made a box combo from
31:06
Speaker 1: raising canes, no coalslaw extra fries, and he said, side
31:10
Speaker 1: truffle mat from somewhere, and then he gets really specific
31:14
Speaker 1: with the dessert.
31:15
Speaker 2: Okay, you gotta hear it.
31:17
Speaker 3: I do.
31:18
Speaker 2: Can I just really quickly say though, that I have
31:19
Speaker 2: only recently been introduced to the magic of a really
31:23
Speaker 2: good shrimp cocktail. Oh yeah, I was out in Vegas
31:26
Speaker 2: and we went to like one of those old timey steakhouses,
31:29
Speaker 2: and like a really solid shrimp cocktail is.
31:32
Speaker 3: A thing of beauty.
31:32
Speaker 2: And actually, now that he's saying that, I might revise
31:35
Speaker 2: mine or add at it as an.
31:38
Speaker 1: App Yeah, I like to because John is methodical, so
31:43
Speaker 1: he of course he's thinking deservasive appetizer made and side.
31:47
Speaker 1: Here's the dessert, he says, dessert a guava cheesecake milkshake
31:51
Speaker 1: from Morgenstern's in New York City and a pint of
31:56
Speaker 1: Jenny's brown butter almond brittle ice cream.
32:00
Speaker 3: Know, that's a fabulous ice cream. We have Jenni Cere Atlanta.
32:02
Speaker 3: That is a really solid ice cream pick.
32:06
Speaker 2: I was actually gonna say about was it because not Kazinski,
32:09
Speaker 2: the Oklahoma City bomber guy. He he had two pints
32:14
Speaker 2: of the same ice cream. I would have had one
32:15
Speaker 2: pint of two different ones. Whull variety in there. You know,
32:19
Speaker 2: that's a really good point.
32:20
Speaker 1: And then also on the Missing Team, producer Chris Brown says,
32:27
Speaker 1: I'm going to go with the gorge fest. Here probably
32:30
Speaker 1: be a peanut butter bacon burger, a sider fries, and
32:34
Speaker 1: mac and cheese for dessert. A stack of amazing pancakes
32:38
Speaker 1: that I will eat very slowly, right.
32:42
Speaker 3: Once and again, a little strategy there inevitable.
32:46
Speaker 2: But now we have to give a shout out to you, sir.
32:52
Speaker 1: We are going to put this to bed because I've
32:56
Speaker 1: been bugging you and Matt and pretty much everybody we
32:58
Speaker 1: know about this question. But I really liked your answer
33:02
Speaker 1: and when you when you gave me your answer, you
33:06
Speaker 1: thought this out and you were pretty definitive about it.
33:10
Speaker 1: And then you came back because you reached a crossroad
33:14
Speaker 1: with potatoes in particular.
33:15
Speaker 3: Right, yeah, I did.
33:17
Speaker 2: And for me, the part of this that I that
33:20
Speaker 2: I talked to you about definitely squarely falls under the
33:22
Speaker 2: nostalgic category because you know, I've I've been obsessed with this,
33:26
Speaker 2: with the Big Lebowski and and just Los Angeles lore
33:30
Speaker 2: and cult server since I was a kid, and in
33:32
Speaker 2: and out Burger comes up a lot and in in
33:34
Speaker 2: the Big Lebowski and it's one of those things that
33:37
Speaker 2: you just can't get outside certain parts of the country,
33:40
Speaker 2: and it's very much like an LA thing.
33:41
Speaker 3: LA is a real burger town. And since then, when I.
33:44
Speaker 2: Was a kid, I've had uh the privilege and pleasure
33:47
Speaker 2: of going to Los Angeles a lot. We've been there
33:50
Speaker 2: together multiple times, and every time I go, there's an
33:53
Speaker 2: in and out right by the airport. I hit that
33:55
Speaker 2: up and and you know, had it multiple times, and
33:58
Speaker 2: it really is about as good as they say. The
34:00
Speaker 2: in and out double double animal style, which is the
34:04
Speaker 2: off menu way of getting your burger, which is basically
34:07
Speaker 2: just with like a kind of a Thousand Island dressing
34:10
Speaker 2: type situation, a saucy sauce burger sauce kind of thing.
34:14
Speaker 2: But you're right, Ben, I have long been a defender
34:17
Speaker 2: of the in and out shoe string fries. They are
34:19
Speaker 2: really skinny and really crispy and very lightly dare I say, unsalted,
34:26
Speaker 2: But every time I bring it up, I've been kind
34:27
Speaker 2: of it's been pointed out to me that they're kind
34:29
Speaker 2: of much maligned. Recently sort of adjusted my position on them,
34:33
Speaker 2: and I think I would get my fries flown in
34:36
Speaker 2: from elsewhere.
34:37
Speaker 3: Some kind of truffle fry.
34:39
Speaker 2: There's a really good spot here in Atlanta called Le
34:42
Speaker 2: Petite Marche, Yeah, pursed area. I believe it's a little
34:47
Speaker 2: Dillogy kind of area here in and it's really good
34:50
Speaker 2: and they do these trufy seasoned fries with parmesan that
34:54
Speaker 2: are just freaking phenomenal. So as long as I was
34:58
Speaker 2: getting executed here in Atlanta, that hopefully fall under the
35:01
Speaker 2: you know, the terms of service.
35:05
Speaker 3: What you might call.
35:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, but then I would lead off though with a
35:09
Speaker 2: good shrimp cocktail. And then for a dessert, I like
35:13
Speaker 2: that Superman ice cream and that's nostalgic too. Really just
35:16
Speaker 2: tastes like vanilla. But it's like it's like they smashed
35:19
Speaker 2: up a bunch of smurfs and made an ice.
35:21
Speaker 3: Cream out of them.
35:22
Speaker 2: How do they do it? How do they get those
35:24
Speaker 2: all those colors. I'm a sucker for artificial color, but
35:27
Speaker 2: that's I think that would be me. Yeah, shrimp cocktail
35:29
Speaker 2: from Amazing steakhouse, double double animal style truffle fries, and
35:35
Speaker 2: Superman ice cream.
35:36
Speaker 1: Perfect poetry, folks. I just have to give credit where
35:40
Speaker 1: it's due.
35:41
Speaker 2: Nol.
35:41
Speaker 1: I love how you were one of the people who said,
35:44
Speaker 1: hang on, let me think about it, and you treated
35:48
Speaker 1: this question with the importance it deserves. And then you
35:51
Speaker 1: came back and you said you came back with like
35:54
Speaker 1: breaking news about the French fries and on the edge
36:00
Speaker 1: of their seat about my hot takes on.
36:02
Speaker 3: Freaking I was that's why we hang out, but I
36:06
Speaker 3: think it is too.
36:07
Speaker 2: But as we've mentioned at the top of the show
36:10
Speaker 2: and a few times since Paul Michigan controlled decand the
36:14
Speaker 2: long suffering super producer of stuff they don't want you
36:16
Speaker 2: to know, is sitting in today for Max, who is away,
36:20
Speaker 2: and we actually just put the question to him not
36:23
Speaker 2: too long ago, and I'm fully behind his response.
36:27
Speaker 1: Ah, yes, Paul, DEC and the better half of the
36:31
Speaker 1: slate that Paul that I have. Paul says, if money
36:35
Speaker 1: is no object, I'd get a five y goose steak. Paul,
36:39
Speaker 1: you have chosen wisely, of course. And then you say,
36:43
Speaker 1: look if there, if money is an object, I would
36:46
Speaker 1: have a quarter pounder with cheese fries at Coca Cola.
36:52
Speaker 2: And with that, thank you, Paul. Wait a minute, no, no, no, no,
36:55
Speaker 2: you're not getting out of this, Ben. You can't play
36:57
Speaker 2: these games with us and not give us your last meal.
37:00
Speaker 2: Come on, man, Well you saw the Frank beat me
37:06
Speaker 2: here Max. You saw the crazy ass note I put
37:09
Speaker 2: in there. I don't know, Okay, you.
37:14
Speaker 1: Know, still on the still on the fence. I'm not
37:17
Speaker 1: as definitive as you guys. I have such a tough
37:20
Speaker 1: time choosing, you know, I might need a little more time,
37:24
Speaker 1: and maybe that's the heart of the episode.
37:27
Speaker 2: Here for the record, the message to say, you'll never
37:30
Speaker 2: catch him, You'll never catch you, never take him in
37:32
Speaker 2: alive Coppers. Yeah, it's a it's a little wrote that
37:37
Speaker 2: in a weird place, but folks, thank you so much
37:40
Speaker 2: for tuning in.
37:41
Speaker 1: Big, big things of course, to our super producer mister
37:43
Speaker 1: Max Williams, to our guest producer Paul Wig.
37:48
Speaker 3: Decad Paul Decadent decades.
37:52
Speaker 2: There it is big, big Thanks to Alex Williams who
37:55
Speaker 2: composed our track.
37:56
Speaker 3: Huge thanks to Jonathan Strickland, the Quister, A J.
37:59
Speaker 5: Maham, Jacob's the Puzzler, Christopherraciotis needs Jeff Coats here in spirit,
38:04
Speaker 5: and of course to you Ben, what a what a
38:08
Speaker 5: rop what a journey into the heart of darkness and deliciousness,
38:12
Speaker 5: the heart and the belly of darkness.
38:16
Speaker 2: There it is, there, it is.
38:17
Speaker 1: Oh, I've got to send you a picture of this, uh,
38:20
Speaker 1: this weird crap thing I got into.
38:23
Speaker 3: We'll see you next time.
38:24
Speaker 2: Books. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
38:34
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.