My recent story about the Globe and Mail's excerpt of My Last Supper, a wonderful book by Melanie Dunea, prompted the good folk at the book's Canadian distributor, Raincoast, to send me a copy, likely hoping that I would do exactly what I'm about to do, which is to comment further on it.

     To review, the idea behind My Last Supper is to present the thoughts of fifty of the world's greatest chefs on how the envision their last meal on earth, accompanying each with an intimate photo portrait of the culinary magician in question. It is a fascinating concept almost ideally executed - I had hoped to go to my own grave without ever seeing Anthony Bourdain naked, but that is one of the book's few missteps - and provides rare insight into the thoughts and personalities of those interviewed.

     Most disappointing to me is the near-complete lack of respect good beer receives from chefs who presumably otherwise care a great deal about the foods they ingest. Jamie Oliver, for example, chooses to sup Hoegaarden, of all things, with spaghetti all'arrabiata, ignoring that the chilies in the dish would render the beer almost flavourless. Anthony Bourdain picks draught Guinness for his dinner of roast bone marrow, presumably to reinforce his streetwise image, but actually revealing an utter lack of imagination. Laurent Tourondel serves Corona with his tuna BLT, hopefully turning to something else before he gets to his dessert of a Krispy Kreme doughnut, and Rick Bayless mentions Bohemia beer in the same breath as he does water, making me believe both are included as simple throat wetters.

     Otherwise, it's wine, wine, wine, with an odd bourbon or single malt thrown in and the occasional nod given to green tea or some other non-alcoholic beverage.

     Still, when all is said and done, this disservice to beer is purely personal to the chefs involved and does nothing to detract from the book's enjoyment or inspiration. And on that latter note, to bring the good year 2007 to a close, I'd like to present my own version of . . .

My Last Supper

What would be your last meal on earth? I would start with a selection of raw oysters and scallops shucked by my friend Patrick McMurray of the outstanding Toronto restaurant, Starfish Oyster Bed and Grill. There would be Galway Flats and Belons and Kumamotos, plus a handful of Malpeques for Canadian content. Then I must have some foie gras, simply sautéed to perfection, followed by two perfect, farm fresh eggs, lightly scrambled with excellent butter. Choosing a main course is tough, but in deference to my lovely fiancée, Maggie - who will hopefully have long since become my wife by the time I eat my last meal on earth - I'll opt for her favourite dish of roast rack of lamb, with roast potatoes and white asparagus on the side. A simple salad of lightly dressed greens freshly plucked from the garden will precede a cheese course of exquisitely ripe Brillat-Savarin and époisses, with a plate of my mother's homemade chocolate chip cookies to finish.

     What would be the setting for the meal? I'd dine at the table of my late aunt and uncle in the south of France, because I enjoyed so many memorable meals there before I ever met Maggie and I'd like her to finally share that experience with me.

     What would you drink with your meal? This is where it really gets fun. Champagne to start, for certain, and lots of it, plus a couple of bottles of aged gueuze for balance. Then a blonde, strong and spicy Belgian-style ale for the foie, something sweeter than a tripel but not cloying. The eggs I'd have with a tall glass of good Bavarian hefeweizen, and I think I'd need a selection of beverages for the lamb - a fabulous Burgundy, a British-style barleywine with about four or five years of cellaring behind it, and an aged, cask strength bourbon accompanied by a couple of cubes of ice on the side. The salad would be served by itself, or maybe with a New Zealand sauvignon blanc, and I'd have an intentionally mistimed trou Normand of calvados before the cheese course. The cheese would also need a mix of beverages, including a great marc de Bourgogne and a sweet stout from one of the many American brewers now doing the style so well. To finish, a bottomless glass of fifty year old, sherry-casked single malt from the Speyside region.

     Would there be music? Given the setting and occasion, I think the joyfully tragic sounds of Edith Piaf would be ideal.

     Who would be your dining companions? With all due respect to my friends and family, I'd dine with Maggie alone, eating and drinking and talking long into the night as we so often do.

     Who would prepare the meal? After Patrick had finished the shucking, my friend and partner in beerbistro, Brian Morin, would take over. Mom, of course, would bake the cookies.

     There you have it, dear readers, my last meal on earth, and now it's your turn. Following the six question format of the book, as I did above, send me the details of your personal last supper. I'll publish excerpts of the most interesting and noteworthy some time next year. Write mylastsupper@worldofbeer.com.

• Considering Oysters & Beer April 2007
• A Country, a Beer, and an Equation Not Necessarily Sound March 2007
• Besting Wine with Beer and Chocolate February 2008
• A Year in Beer & Food January 2008
• Cooking Up My Last Supper December 2007
• The Best of Beer Fests? November 2007
• My First Visit to Oktoberfest October 2007
• So What IS Balance, Anyway? September 2007
• Revisiting the Beer Cocktail August 2007
• Sampling The Ubiquitous Chip July 2007
• Three Stops in Philadelphia June 2007
• Time to Kill the Cold May 2007
• Sahtis and Saunas in Lammi April 2007
• Turning St. Patrick on His Head March 2007
• A Tale of a Tasting February 2007
• Twelve Months of Beer January 2007
• The Year in Beer Blogs December 2006
• The 25th Edition of the Great American Beer Festival November 2006
• Why Can't Somebody Explain this Beer to Me? October 2006
• Ten Years Can Be a Long Time September 2006
• Rethinking the Draught-Bottle-Can Paradigm August 2006
• Light, fizzy beers are losing popularity July 2006
• Beer & Health June 2006
• Tallking Tin May 2006
• Consider the Cocktail April 2006
• The Future of Big Breweries? March 2006
• A Potpourri of Beer News February 2006
• Looking Forward in 2006 Janaury 2006
• Gifts for the Gourmand December 2005
• Beer Tasting 101 November 2005
• The Great Canadian Beer Festival October 2005
• The Passion of Mondovino September 2005
• Belgium Came to Cooperstown ... Again August 2005
• Ten Truly Great Summer Beer Experiences July 2005
• Great News for Good Beer June 2005
• Flogging A Dead Horse May 2005
• Hey Molson-Coors, What Do You Have Against Taste? April 2005
• Beer and Food Pairing Gains Popularity! March 2005
• Bud for the Cocktail Set February 2005
• Looking Back and Looking Ahead January 2005
• Holiday Wishes December 2004
• The 2004 Great American Beer Festival November 2004
• The Empty Words of Beer October 2004
• A Visit to the Griffin Brewery September 2004
• Oh Look, It's Another Major Brewery Merger! August 2004
• Interview with John Sleeman July 2004
• Creating a Blend June 2004
• World of Beer turns 40 May 2004
• Eighteen Ways to Improve Your Beer Life April 2004
• Drinking Old Beer March 2004
• Drink Local or Drink Quality? February 2004
• 2003 - The Year That Was January 2004
• 2004 - The Year of Lambic December 2003
• Perspective on the Premium Beer Market November 2003
• So What Makes a Bar Great? October 2003
• Random Reflections at Summer's End, September 2003
• Why I Drink Beer, August 2003
• American Beer Month: Controversial Again, July 2003
• The Case for the Complexity of Beer, June 2003
• Enough of the Lowbrow Chic Already!, May 2003
• A Beer Called Lambic, April 2003
• Of Snow and Barley Wines, March 2003
• Lament for a Brewpub, February 2003
• What We Didn't Get Done, January 2003
• More Belgian Bliss, December 2002
• Joanna Blythman is an Idiot, November 2002
• Brakspear and the Name Game, October 2002
• Taking a Taste of the Midwest, September 2002
• Oregon Brewers Festival 2002, August 2002
• In Praise of Expensive Beer, July 2002
• Le Mondial de la Bière, June 2002
• Beers that Go to the Dogs, May 2002
• In Praise of the Pub, April 2002
• A Great Restaurant Town, True, But a Magnificent Beer Town, March 2002
• Right Beer, Wrong Weather: Imperial Stouts in New York, February 2002
• What I've Learned About Beer, January 2002
• Deceptive Names, Deceptive Drinks, December 2001
• The Truth About Dutch Beer, November 2001
• A Very Personal Message from Stephen Beaumont, October 2001
• Smell Your Beer, September 2001
• Travel Karma, Great Beer and the Oregon Brewers festival, August 2001
• Switzerland after Samichlaus, July 2001
• A Tale of Three Bus(c)hes, June 2001
• Announcing a New Great Canadian Beer Guide, May 2001
• Beer Belongs at the Table, April 2001
• A Bevy of Barley Wines, March 2001
• Why Craft Beer is Here to Stay, February 2001
• Y2Beer -- The Year in Review, January 2001
• No Age Verification Necessary, December 2000
• A Tale of a Tasting, November 2000
• In Praise of la Belle Province, October 2000
• The Premium Beer Drinker's Guide is Here!!, September 2000
• The Downside of Beer and Brewing, August 2000
• So Why Do You Drink Beer?, July 2000
• The Summer Joy of Wheat, June 2000
• In Defense of Beer, May 2000
• Ten Days in Belgium, Part II, April 2000
• Ten Days in Belgium, Part I, April 2000
• Ten Days in Belgium, Introduction, April 2000
• A World of Stout, Mar 2000
• The Glass From Which We Drink, Feb 2000
• The Year As It Was: Brews, Fests and Damn Foolishness , Jan 2000
• New Years Eve, Dec 1999
• Beer in the Land of Stout, Nov 1999
• Visiting the World's Best Beer Fest, Oct 1999
• The Secretive Charm of the Bière de Garde, Sept 1999
• The Mixed Marriage of a Beer and a Cigar, Aug 1999

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