October 24, 2007 -- In the “Life” section of today’s edition of The Globe and Mail newspaper is an excerpt from the new book, My Last Supper, written and photographed by Melanie Dunea and published by Bloomsbury. In it – the excerpt, not the book – six chefs set the scene for their own personal last-supper-before-I-shuffle-from-this-mortal-coil. The book, which I have not yet read, features an additional 44 chefs and their tales.

Of the distinguished half-dozen featured, only one makes true, perfect sense to me: Au Pied de Cochon’s Martin Picard. Oh sure, there’s certainly pleasure to be found in Mario Batali’s pasta-filled extravaganza on the beach and Ferran Adrià’s Japanese feast in Kyoto’s Kiccho Restaurant, but c’mon, this is the last meal ever we’re talking about here! I would think that if wretched excess ever had a place in life, and death, then this would be it! And Picard is about nothing less than excess:

“I would like to start with one kilo of caviar with blinis and the best butter…Then would come two truffles of 100 grams each, one black and one white, minced on toasted bread…I would continue with cured foie gras on a boudin tart, with mustard and caramelized onions, and a snow goose, thinly sliced, marinated raw in a neutral oil, wine vinegar, and juniper berries…a bluefin tuna flank from Nova Scotia, just caught, served raw…a simple leaf of lettuce as the only vegetable, in honour of my mother…A mountain of snipes hunted by myself and my hunter friends…prepared classically and according to the recipe in the 1984 edition of Larousse Gastronomique for bécasses rôties sur canapé.”

Sure, he missed the oyster course – a must for a last meal, surely – but with a kilo of caviar to get through, you can hardly fault him for that. And to drink?” Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and champagne, and vodka in Robidoux’s memory to have with the caviar.”

Is it any wonder that I'm already planning my dinner next month at Au Pied de Cochon, when I visit Montréal for the premier edition of the Flaveurs Bières et Caprices fest?

(Read the full story at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/foodandwine and find out more about the book at http://www.melaniedunea.com. Find more information about the Flaveurs Bières et Caprices show, and order tickets, at http://www.flaveursbieresetcaprices.com.)

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