The Last Meal
April 18, 2011 5:38 PM   Subscribe

Michael Paterniti recreates Francois Mitterand's last meal, complete with the most forbidden of foods: ortolan.

Previously discussed here.
posted by reenum (28 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: this is all in the last post as near as I can tell -- jessamyn



 
I was unaware that repetition was was an aspect of this link.
posted by mwhybark at 5:41 PM on April 18, 2011


What's a retart?
posted by bam at 5:45 PM on April 18, 2011


Makes me want to watch "The Freshman".
posted by tomswift at 5:46 PM on April 18, 2011


Anybody on MeFi ever try ortolan? How was it?
posted by infinitywaltz at 5:51 PM on April 18, 2011


the retart thing really annoyed me, very distracting...
posted by supermedusa at 5:54 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Do not eat the ambassador
posted by DU at 5:54 PM on April 18, 2011


Mitterand is currently chained to a rock in hell, having his entrails ripped out daily by dodos and passenger pigeons.
posted by benzenedream at 5:56 PM on April 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


I don't think there will be a feast as renowned for a thousand years. I'm even trying to think of anything remotely close as the legend of this last supper from the last 50 years or so. Come on historians let the brainstorming begin.
posted by humanfont at 5:56 PM on April 18, 2011


Bon Appetit!

I have eaten
the ortolans
that were in
the oven

and which
you were probably
saving
for your last meal

Forgive me
they were delicious
so forbidden
and so bony
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:01 PM on April 18, 2011 [7 favorites]


Can you imagine Bill Clinton's last meal?

Greasy double-double from In-N-Out, no lettuce or tomato, just meat, cheese, bread, ketchup and grease

This is the cheeseburger

A dozen hot fresh glazed from Krispy Kreme, the bag redolent of the warm yeast, the glaze on the round forms like his last time with sweet Monica

These are the donuts

A quart of sweet iced tea, heavy with tannins and the flavor of a handful of lemon wedges

This is the iced tea

Finally, the cigars...
posted by briank at 6:05 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


The boy's mother is a tart. The boy had realized that fact earlier, but had forgotten it. While in church that day, it dawned on him again. He became, in that instant, retarted.
The trapped birds.
Tulips. Tulips on an altar.

The horror.
posted by Floydd at 6:07 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I have a relative that gets to travels to cool places like Australia and france, but where I say "gets" he says "have to." So "I have to go to France again."

He hatess France because their portion sizes are too small. "You have to eat like 3 meals just to get full."

I am beginning to wonder if maybe he was eating ortolan all this time.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:08 PM on April 18, 2011


This FPP is a double.
posted by VikingSword at 6:08 PM on April 18, 2011


Look up, VikingSword.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:10 PM on April 18, 2011


OK, now I see the "previously". But... why exactly are we re-treading here? I mean, the 141 comments of the previous thread were not enough, or did Mitterand's last meal change since then? Isn't it the same account by the same writer? I guess one was reported on NPR and here we have Esquire. Okaaayy...
posted by VikingSword at 6:16 PM on April 18, 2011


Forget God. You'd better not let me see you eating it either.

(Last comment?)
posted by saulgoodman at 6:16 PM on April 18, 2011


I left my ortolan on the counter overnight. Should I eat it?

on preview: item: holy crap!
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 6:16 PM on April 18, 2011


Oh. So it's not a double. Just feels like one.
posted by saulgoodman at 6:16 PM on April 18, 2011


That was such a drearingly morbid article.
posted by Jehan at 6:45 PM on April 18, 2011


Does your ortolan lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?
posted by uosuaq at 6:46 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


This makes me wonder what our own former Dear Leader's last meal was like - Charles Haughey was very much a Mitterand-lite.
posted by kersplunk at 6:52 PM on April 18, 2011


Ortolan: when foie gras and veal aren't cruel enough for you.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:09 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I put inside myself the last flowered bit of air and Armagnac in its lungs, the body of rainwater and berries. In there, too, is the ocean and Africa and the dip and plunge in a high wind. And the heart that bursts between my teeth.

...surely I'm not the only one who finds this overwritten to the point of absurdity.
posted by nonmerci at 7:14 PM on April 18, 2011


nonmerci, frankly it just sounds like a wine review to me.
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:15 PM on April 18, 2011


I, for one, thought it was fantastic writing.
posted by Jon_Evil at 7:19 PM on April 18, 2011



Forget God. You'd better not let me see you eating it either.


Don't worry. I'll let you have a bite.

I don't think I'll ever understand the outrage at the consumption of this bird. The arguments over cruelty, legality, or rarity are not especially compelling. The ritual is odd, but not one I find particularly objectionable. Yet another interesting post I somehow can't be outraged by.
posted by 2N2222 at 7:20 PM on April 18, 2011


Previously. There's a link to an NPR interview with Michael Paterniti about the meal, and this article is linked from there.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 7:24 PM on April 18, 2011


Oops, I see the other post was already mentioned :P. Anyway here's the NPR interview from that post.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 7:25 PM on April 18, 2011


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