What do people choose to eat when they know it will be their last meal?

For more than a century, the idea of the death row last meal has occupied a strange place in American culture. Some condemned prisoners have requested elaborate dinners. Others have chosen childhood comfort foods, candy, ice cream or a single item. A few have made requests so unusual that their final meals became part of the historical record surrounding their executions. But the popular image of a prisoner being allowed to order absolutely anything they want isn't quite accurate.

Rules vary by jurisdiction and institution. Requests can be limited by cost, availability and prison regulations. Some prisoners decline a special meal entirely. And occasionally, what an inmate asks for isn't what they ultimately receive.

In our Death House Films video “The 10 Strangest Last Meals on Death Row,” we explored ten particularly unusual examples.

Here is the deeper story behind each one.

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The 10 Strangest Last Meals on Death Row — Death House Films

What Is a Death Row Last Meal?

The "last meal" is generally a meal served to a condemned prisoner before an execution, but there is no single nationwide American last-meal policy.

Practices differ between states and prison systems. Some institutions have historically allowed prisoners to request specific foods within practical limits. Others restrict requests to food available through the prison kitchen. That means the familiar movie version—"Order anything you want"—is largely a myth.

The cultural significance of these meals is another matter. Researchers have examined last-meal choices as expressions of comfort, identity, symbolism and personal preference during a highly controlled final period of a prisoner's life.

And sometimes the request itself becomes almost as famous as the case.

10. Velma Barfield — Cheese Snacks and Coca-Cola

The final request

Velma Barfield's final food request was strikingly simple: cheese snacks and a soft drink.

Contemporary reporting from her 1984 execution states that Barfield declined the prison's offered dinner of chicken livers, macaroni and cheese, greens and cake. Instead, she requested cheese snacks and a soft drink. The combination is frequently described in later accounts as Cheez Doodles and Coca-Cola. The Washington Post

Who was Velma Barfield?

Margie Velma Barfield was a North Carolina woman convicted in 1978 of the first-degree murder of her fiancé, Stuart Taylor, whom she poisoned. Court records show that she was convicted on December 2, 1978. Casemine

Barfield also confessed to poisoning several other people, including her mother. Her crimes earned her considerable notoriety, particularly because her outward appearance contrasted sharply with the crimes attributed to her. The Washington Post

On November 2, 1984, Barfield was executed by lethal injection in North Carolina.

Her execution was historically significant: she became the first woman executed in the United States after executions resumed in the modern death-penalty era.

Why her last meal stands out

• There was nothing elaborate about it.

• No steak. No lobster. No enormous dessert.

• Instead, Barfield essentially chose snack food and soda—making the simplicity of her final • request one of the reasons it continues to appear in collections of unusual death row meals.

9. Gerald Lee Mitchell — A Bag of Jolly Ranchers

The final meal

Gerald Lee Mitchell reportedly requested just one bag of assorted Jolly Ranchers.

No entrée. No sides. No dessert beyond the candy itself.

The unusual request has become one of the more frequently cited minimalist last meals. Neal Auch

Who was Gerald Lee Mitchell?

Mitchell was 17 when he committed the crimes that eventually placed him on Texas death row. His age became an important part of the controversy surrounding his execution. His attorneys argued against executing someone for a crime committed while under 18.

Mitchell was ultimately executed by lethal injection in Texas on October 22, 2001. The Texas

Department of Criminal Justice preserves his final statement, in which he apologized for the life he had taken and asked the victim's family for forgiveness. Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Why the Jolly Ranchers became memorable

• Most people imagine a last meal as an opportunity for excess.

• Mitchell did essentially the opposite.

• His entire request consisted of candy—a food normally associated with childhood rather • than a formal dinner. That contrast became particularly striking because Mitchell himself had • been only 17 at the time of his crimes.

8. Timothy McVeigh — Two Pints of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Few crimes in modern American history produced the level of national trauma associated with the Oklahoma City bombing.

Timothy McVeigh was convicted for carrying out the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people.

McVeigh's final meal

His request was remarkably simple: Two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Nothing else.

A Bureau of Prisons official publicly confirmed the meal immediately before McVeigh's execution. YouTube

McVeigh was executed by lethal injection at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, on June 11, 2001. CBS News

A historical connection

McVeigh's execution also created an unusual connection to another person on this list.

He was the first person executed by the U.S. federal government since Victor Feguer in 1963—a gap of approximately 38 years. Wikipedia

And Feguer's final meal could hardly have been more different.

We'll get to him at number 1.

7. John Wayne Gacy — KFC, Shrimp, Fries and Strawberries

John Wayne Gacy's final meal was far more elaborate.

He requested:

A bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken12 fried shrimpFrench friesFresh strawberriesDiet Coke

Accounts vary slightly in how they describe quantities, but the combination of fried chicken, shrimp, fries and strawberries is well documented. Wikipedia

Who was John Wayne Gacy?

Gacy was convicted of murdering 33 young men and boys in Illinois.

Many of his victims were buried beneath or around his home outside Chicago. The scale of the crimes made Gacy one of America's most notorious serial killers.

He was executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994, at Stateville Correctional Center.

The strange KFC connection

There is another detail that makes the meal particularly notable. Before his crimes were discovered, Gacy had worked in the restaurant business and managed several Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants. CBS News

His decision to include KFC in his final meal therefore had a connection to his earlier life.

6. Ronnie Lee Gardner — Steak, Lobster and The Lord of the Rings

Ronnie Lee Gardner didn't just make an unusual food choice.

His final days also included an unusual movie marathon.

Gardner's last meal

His requested meal included: SteakLobster tailApple pieVanilla ice cream7-Up

One firsthand account from a bishop who visited Gardner describes the meal as including steak, two lobster tails, apple pie and vanilla ice cream. Deseret News

Then came the detail that made Gardner's final days particularly memorable.

He watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Gardner subsequently began a 48-hour fast that his attorneys said was for spiritual reasons. Wikipedia

Why was Ronnie Lee Gardner executed?

• Gardner was sentenced to death for the fatal shooting of attorney Michael Burdell during an attempted escape from a courthouse in 1985. CBS News

• He was executed in Utah on June 18, 2010.

• His method of execution was also unusual.

• Gardner chose to die by firing squad, a method rarely used in the modern United States.

Thomas J. Grasso — The SpaghettiOs Controversy

Thomas J. Grasso didn't order a modest final dinner.

His meal was enormous.

It reportedly included: Two dozen steamed mussels, Two dozen steamed clams, Barbecued spare ribs, A Burger King double cheeseburger, Two strawberry milkshakes, Half a pumpkin pie with whipped cream and strawberries, SpaghettiOs with meatballs

But there was a problem.

They weren't SpaghettiOs

Grasso apparently received regular spaghetti instead.

Of everything happening immediately before his execution, this substitution bothered him enough that he mentioned it in his final statement.

His complaint was essentially that he had requested SpaghettiOs—not ordinary spaghetti—and wanted reporters to know about the mistake. Wikipedia

Grasso was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma on March 20, 1995.

Why this meal became famous

• It's an almost surreal detail.

• Grasso was hours away from death, had ordered an enormous collection of seafood, ribs, fast food, milkshakes and pie—and one of the final things he wanted recorded was that the prison had served him the wrong type of spaghetti.

• That detail ensured his last meal would be remembered decades later.

4. Ricky Ray Rector — The Pecan Pie He Was "Saving for Later"

Ricky Ray Rector's final meal has become one of the most disturbing stories associated with the American death penalty.

He requested: Steak, Fried chicken, Cherry Kool-Aid, Pecan pie

But Rector didn't eat the pie.

According to accounts of his execution, he set it aside and indicated that he was saving it for later. Encyclopedia of Arkansas

There would, of course, be no later.

Why Rector's case became controversial

Rector had suffered a severe brain injury after shooting himself in the head following his crimes. His lawyers argued that he had significant mental impairment, and his apparent belief that he could eat the pie after his execution became part of the broader controversy surrounding whether he fully comprehended what was about to happen.

Rector was executed by lethal injection in Arkansas on January 24, 1992. Encyclopedia of Arkansas

The uneaten pecan pie has subsequently become one of the most frequently cited details of his case.

3. Philip Workman — The Pizza He Didn't Want for Himself

Philip Workman's request was fundamentally different from almost everyone else on this list.

He didn't want a special meal.

Instead, Workman asked prison officials to provide a vegetarian pizza to a homeless person.

The prison refused.

And then something unexpected happened.

Hundreds of pizzas began arriving

After the request became public, people decided to fulfill Workman's wish themselves.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Nashville's Union Rescue Mission received approximately 170 pizzas, while additional pizzas were reportedly ordered for another organization in Minnesota. Los Angeles Times

So although prison officials did not fulfill the request, strangers effectively did.

Who was Philip Workman?

Workman was convicted of murdering Memphis Police Lieutenant Ronald Oliver following the 1981 robbery of a fast-food restaurant. Workman disputed that he had fired the bullet that killed Oliver, and questions about evidence in the case continued through his appeals. Amnesty International

He was executed by lethal injection in Tennessee on May 9, 2007.

Whatever one's view of Workman or his case, the pizza request produced an unusual consequence:

A last meal request ended up feeding people outside the prison.

2. James Edward Smith — A Lump of Dirt

Then we arrive at a request that wasn't really food at all.

James Edward Smith asked prison officials for dirt. Not chocolate. Not steak. Not alcohol. Dirt.

Why did James Edward Smith request dirt?

Smith reportedly wanted a lump of what was described as “rhaeakunda dirt” for use in a spiritual ritual. Texas prison officials refused the request because dirt wasn't an approved food item. Smith instead ate plain yogurt as his final meal. Contemporary reporting confirms that yogurt was what he ultimately consumed. UPI

Who was James Edward Smith?

Smith was convicted of murdering insurance executive Larry Don Rohus during a 1983 robbery in Houston.

He was executed by lethal injection on June 26, 1990. UPI

The bizarre request for dirt has largely overshadowed the yogurt he actually ate—which is precisely why his story remains prominent in discussions of strange final-meal requests.

1. Victor Feguer — One Olive

After enormous dinners, candy, ice cream, pizza and even dirt, perhaps the strangest last meal on our list is also the smallest.

One olive.

Victor Feguer requested a single olive with the pit still inside. Wikipedia

Who was Victor Feguer?

In 1960, Feguer lured Iowa physician Dr. Edward Bartels to his boarding house by falsely claiming that a woman needed medical assistance.

Bartels was kidnapped and transported across state lines into Illinois, where he was killed by a gunshot to the head. Because the kidnapping crossed state lines, Feguer faced federal prosecution. He was convicted under the federal Kidnapping Act and sentenced to death. vLex

Feguer was hanged at the Iowa State Penitentiary on March 15, 1963.

Why only one olive?

According to later accounts, Feguer told guards that he hoped the olive pit would

eventually grow into an olive tree from his grave as a symbol of peace. Wikipedia

Whether interpreted literally or symbolically, the request couldn't have been further removed from the enormous feast people commonly associate with a last meal.

One olive.

One pit.

And nothing else.

Why Are We So Fascinated by Last Meals?

Last meals sit at an uncomfortable intersection between food, crime, punishment and mortality.

Food is intensely personal.

It can remind someone of childhood, family, celebrations, home or simply something they enjoy. Under ordinary circumstances, choosing dinner is completely mundane.

On death row, that ordinary decision takes on an entirely different meaning.

That may explain why these meals remain culturally fascinating decades after the executions themselves.

Some inmates chose comfort. Some chose excess. Some chose almost nothing.

Philip Workman attempted to give his meal away.

James Edward Smith requested something that wasn't food.

Ricky Ray Rector apparently believed he could save his dessert for later.

Victor Feguer chose a single olive.

Taken together, the meals don't provide a simple psychological explanation for the people who ordered them. They do, however, preserve one small and strangely human detail from the final hours of some extraordinarily dark criminal cases.

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