The Last Meal

On New Year's Eve 1995, Francois Mitterrand, the former French president, was dying of prostate cancer. On that night he supposedly had one last orgiastic feast, where he consumed an Ortolan Bunting. The tiny, endangered bird was captured, force fed in darkness and drowned in Armagnac. Ortolan eating began as an ancient Roman practice, and is now an illegal French delicacy. This is the story of a ravenous, cancer ridden president and a bird about the size of your thumb.




Credits

The performance is inspired by Michael Paterniti’s Esquire article “The Last Meal”. I use portions of his descriptions of the last meal and the prompt “I wonder what a soul tastes like”. The speculative nature of his article and the tone were huge inspirations for this work.
Paterniti, Michael "The Last Meal” Esquire. June 27 2008 


In addition, many of the details of Mitterand’s life and views on religion and politics were sourced from Franz-Olivier Giesbert’s “Dying Without God”.
  • Giesbert, Franz-Olivier. Dying Without God. New York: Arcade, 1996.