About 10 years ago I started writing a novel called “The Last Supper Club” whose protagonist was a female celebrity chef who made super-extravagant last suppers for people who knew they were terminally ill. The novel (like all of my fiction writing, at least so far) didn’t go anywhere; in fact, I never even finished the book.
Fast-forward to 2007, when a lovely four-color, coffee-table nonfiction book entitled, “My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals/Portraits, Interviews, and Recipes” was published.
I thought about that book, and portions of my own short-lived novel that were semi-autobiographical, as I hatched the idea for Five More Minutes With.
And just today (remember there are no coincidences!) I ran across a link to Celebrity Chefs’ Last Suppers while searching ProChef SmartBrief, a wonderful e-newsletter that comes into my “other” inbox (for my food-and-wine-writing life).
Here is the link to the Last Suppers Photo Gallery courtesy of Time magazine. I especially like the shot of Italian chef Lydia Bastianich in a “hat” made entirely of pasta.
What would you have for your last supper? Would it be something fancy and multi-course, as many of the chefs requested?
Or something simple and homey, perhaps a comfort food(s) from childhood?
Me? I’d keep it simple and homey with a sliced turkey-breast sandwich on whole-wheat bread with real mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato; a Honey Crisp apple, and iced tea (real, black iced tea–none of that frou-frou passion-fruit stuff!) with Sweet ‘n’ Low.
I really want to read that novel – how soon can you finish it?? Seriously!
Comment by Karen Rosenzweig — June 15, 2010
Oh, Karen, I have been a fiction writer my entire life. . .even penned romance novels and a terrible gothic-vampire/time-travel novel at one point in my life (WAY before the whole Twilight phenomenon). . .all unpublished and safely tucked away in plastic boxes in our storage area in the bowels of the basement! Thank heavens I’ve been more successful in having my nonfiction works published. 🙂
Comment by Braiden — June 15, 2010