Last Supper

A recent Time magazine article entitled You Eat What You Are got me thinking again about the subject of my last meal. Yes, this is not the first time I've contemplated this topic. It's quite a morbid topic, yet it conjures up all sorts of wonderful sensations and triggers random memories.

At first, I thought for my last supper that I might request the finest and freshest sushi: uni, raw jumbo diver scallops, live sweet shrimp (with the heads fried), yellowtail underbelly. bluefin tuna, unagi, whitefish and finished with miso soup with Asari clams (Katsuya style). And then the more I thought about it, the more I craved the flavors from my past and from my youth. When I want TRUE satisfaction, it goes deeper than just my palate. It goes to the deepest part of my belly; to the heart of my belly or the underbelly, you could say. Here's what I came up with for my official Final Meal Menu, which to me, would be perfect in every way:

First course: boiled live crawfish (heavy on the creole seasoning), along with a Corona and lime
Second course: Texas-style chicken fried steak, with glossy, buttery brown gravy and smooth white mashed potatoes with a crater on the top to hold more of that same gravy
Third and final course: kimchi chigae

I like how the article alludes to the final meal as "the edible sound track to my life." So true. Over and over, the foods that touch my innermost me are the foods I've shared with my family and friends. I believe that our taste buds have a far sharper memory than our visual memory. For example, when I visited Korea for the first time in 15 years (a place that I had absolutely no recollection of) I was offered a beverage which I had not tasted since I was 2 years old. At first glance, I didn't remember ever trying it before, yet I recognized the flavor immediately when it hit my tongue. My palate may have become much more refined and even snobby with age, but give me a bubbling pot of stewed kimchi and all of a sudden the world and all its cares seems to fade away. There's really very little more I need in life. What about you - what would you request for your last meal?