Death Row Dinners: starring The Mancunion

As a Criminology student, self-professed crime enthusiast and food-lover, Death Row Dinners fascinate me.

A well-known concept, the Death Row Dinner was a convention in US death penalty prisoners in which, 24 hours before their demise they would be granted one last wish: a meal of their choice. Oklahoma City Bomber, Timothy McVeigh requested two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream, simple and concerning. On the other end of the spectrum, serial killer John Wayne Gacy chose 12 fried prawns (very specific), a bucket of KFC chicken, chips and a pound of strawberries. Murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner chose steak, a lobster tail and apple pie whilst watching Lord of the Rings (boujee).

The macabre curiosity of humanity means that when heinous crime is combined with a sit-down meal; so many of us are grossly intrigued. But for me anyway, this has become my opening gambit when meeting anyone: What would your death row dinner be? I want to know your favourite food!

So, here is a new weekly segment. I’m going to give you a weekly dosage of people’s favourite dinners. Exhilarating I know, but I’m nosy. To kick things off, I asked some of The Mancunion‘s Editorial Team. Here’s what they said. Enjoy.

• Anja Samy, Editor-in-Chief:
  • Chicken satay with peanut Sauce
  • A chicken roast with an additional Yorkshire pudding

    

  • Key lime pie
• Tobias Soar, Film Editor:
  • ‘Choripan’, an Argentinian sandwich of grilled chorizo and fresh bread.
  • Argentinian steak cooked ‘A Punto’ (in-between rare and medium-rare) with fries and two fried eggs
  • Tiramisu
• Josh Sandy, Film Editor:
  • Tomato soup with a whole baguette (he has an appetite)
  • Two chicken-shop pizzas, specifically ‘as greasy as possible’ with chips and a can of lilt.

    

  • Salted caramel pavlova.
• Jay Darcy, Theatre Editor:
  • Vietnamese summer rolls
  • Vietshack’s ‘quack loaded fries’
  • Pavlova
• Sam Bronheim, Head of Marketing:
  • Scallops with garlic butter
  • A Five Guy’s bacon burger
  • Tiramisu

Let’s not judge some of them too harshly. Stay tuned for next time for more, you guessed it, Death Row Dinners.