Chefs’ Last Suppers
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
For his last meal on earth, French chef Jacques Pépin would choose crunchy baguettes and Béylon oysters. And chef Wylie Dufresne of WD-50 on the Lower East Side would opt for a “screaming rare” cheeseburger topped with a fried egg, while chef Laurent Tourondel of BLT fame would eat a classic, glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut.
Messrs. Pépin, Dufresne, and Tourondel are among 50 of the world’s preeminent chefs — 22 of them have New York restaurants — whose interviews and portraits are featured in “My Last Supper” (Bloomsbury, 224 pages, $39.95), a new coffee-table book by photographer Melanie Dunea. Ms. Dunea asks each of her subjects the same six questions about their ideal last meal. The book includes an introduction by chef Anthony Bourdain of Brasserie Les Halles.
The surprisingly intimate interviews are accompanied by photographs as varied and personal as the cuisines of the chefs. Mr. Bourdain is nude with a beef bone and a cigarette, Prune’s Gabrielle Hamilton is breast-feeding, and the Japanese chef Masa Takayama is surrounded by four men dressed in Chasidic garb. Root vegetables, salmon, and pasta, respectively, make for fanciful headwear in the case of superstars Mario Batalli, Marcus Samuelsson, and Lidia Bastianich.
Completing the collection are recipes — some unique, others reprinted — but they seem almost incidental. The real appeal is the conversation. You may want to try Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s recipe for tuna and chili tapioca, but more than likely you’re buying this coffee tablebook for the tête-à-tête with the celebrity chef.
Some of those interviewed, such as Gordon Ramsay, envisioned eating last meals at home, while others had more extravagant venues in mind. Daniel Boulud, for one, chose Versailles. Asking chefs about their last meals does have a certain poignancy, but this exercise works well for other celebrities too. Sequels could include 50 great actors or musicians. Messrs. Batalli and Boulud both note a Bono soundtrack in their last requests. I wonder what the U2 band members would want to eat at the end of their lives.
