(NewsNation) — Foodie Josh Slavin, a multi-platform content creator, has been busy researching, preparing, eating and ranking the last meals for some of history’s most notorious death row criminals.
Slavin is on a mission to find what he believes is “the greatest final meal request of all time.”
“It started as a typical morbid curiosity that someone might have,” Slavin said Thursday on “Banfield.” I’ve always been interested in creating content with food, and one day I went down the rabbit hole of death row final meals. … I decided to dive into it, and it’s a really interesting world that I wanted to share with my audience.”
Slavin’s audience consists of nearly 3 million followers and subscribers who also want to learn about the most interesting requests from condemned individuals.
Through research and taste tests, Slavin has learned some individuals “want to make a statement” while others “just want a great meal.” Some request typical comfort foods like chili cheese dogs or pizza, while others request entire cakes.
“Some request gigantic spreads. It’s a really vast spectrum. … One inmate requested dirt,” Slavin shared.
Murderer James Edward Smith made the unusual request for a lump of dirt, which was not granted. He then settled for a cup of yogurt.
Slavin said meal request leniency varies by state.
“It varies. They’ll tend to grant anything. In the past, Texas was by far the most accommodating state. You could basically request anything, until 2011 when Lawrence Russel Brewer requested a feast, and when it came, he said he wasn’t hungry.”
Convicted murderer Victor Feguer requested a single olive with the pit. His goal was for when he died for an olive tree to sprout from his grave as a sign of peace.
Other strange last meal requests were made by serial killers John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy. Gacy ate a bucket of fried chicken and a pound of strawberries, while Bundy had steak, eggs and hashbrowns.