News-Record.com

Simpson requested a last meal of a McRib sandwich from McDonald's, a double cheeseburger from Wendy's, macaroni and cheese, cheesecake, and a Pepsi, officials said.

That's a sentence from the AP story on the execution Friday morning of Perrie Dyon Simpson. The macabre discussion in our shop went something along the lines of "a McRib sandwich? Who has a last meal of a McRib sandwich?" What is it about state executions that one of the first questions we ask is, What was the last meal?

There are Web sites devoted to compiling last meal requests. Kenneth Lee Boyd, the previously last prisoner executed in North Carolina -- a few short weeks ago -- had a New York strip steak and a salad.

The News & Observer outlines what the state prison system will do in a fascinating story for the grim of mind: In North Carolina, death row inmates can order whatever they want within reason, said Keith Acree, a state prison system spokesman. Inmates have dined on takeout from McDonald's and Arby's. Pizza has been ordered more than steak. Although Pepsi was invented in New Bern, the inmates prefer Coke products. A beer or a shot of whiskey has never been an option; an after-dinner cigarette, if it ever was a possibility, is no longer since Central Prison became smoke-free Jan. 1.

Best anecdote: 'If you get a steak, you don't get a steak knife. It takes a little bit away from the dining experience.' I don't know how Boyd cut the New York strip.