Back of the House

Eating the Last Supper

The centerfold for
The centerfold forhaha Photo: ©from My Last Supper by Melanie Dunea/ CPi. published by Bloomsbury


We’re not much for coffee-table books, but the forthcoming My Last Supper is so shockingly weird, and shockingly good, that we would consider buying it. “What would your last meal be?” is a popular question for chefs, but the answers here are far better than you would expect. (Masa Takayama wants to cook for Orthodox Jews; Wylie Dufresne would eat vegetables “just to placate my mom.”)

Lidia Bastianich and pasta: a perfect fit.haha

But the best part of the book are the images by Melanie Dunea. Besides the pictures above and below — which include Wylie in a come-hither pose on a bed of American cheese, Lidia Bastianich in a pasta hat, and Gary Danko with his harem — there’s Anthony Bourdain posing with only a strategically placed femur, Laurent Tourondel getting jiggy at the Krispy Kreme factory, and Dan Barber with the largest hog we have ever seen photographed. If that’s not good enough for your coffee table, what is?


The Ripper, with loaves rather than fishes; a typical night at home for Vongo.Photo: ©from My Last Supper by Melanie Dunea/ CPi. published by Bloomsbury

Eating the Last Supper