Hospice chef reveals most frequent request for patients' final meals

When it comes to final meal requests, you likely imagine an inmate on Death Row convicted of the most heinous crimes and hoping for a Happy Meal send-off.

But regardless of criminality or innocence, we’ll have a final meal at some point. For chefs working in hospices, last meals are a matter of comfort and love that lack the macabre fanfare around such dinners on Death Row.

Speaking to National World, Spencer Richards, a chef from Sobell House Hospice in Oxfordshire, shared his approach to fulfilling dying patients’ final meal requests.

Care and compassion are vital qualities in any hospice worker (10'000 Hours/Getty Images)

“My own philosophy is that there can be no greater privilege as a chef than serving someone their final meal,” he said.

"Recently a 21-year-old patient didn’t connect with anything on the standard menu. He was young and didn’t like the usual options, so we talked and he liked street food, so we made that happen.

“Then there was the woman who turned 93 during her stay. She hadn’t had the most traditional home life, and birthday cakes were never really part of it.

“When we surprised her with one, she was in tears. She was absolutely over the moon.”

Richards added that birthday cakes are a surprisingly common request, particularly for patients in their 80s and 90s.

“They’re small things, but especially for people who’ve been isolated or are feeling lonely, they mean a lot,” he explained.

It’s not always as simple as taking the order and whipping up the best rendition he can, of course, with some people’s conditions necessitating innovative approaches to making sure they can enjoy their final dish in whatever capacity available to them.

“Food at the end of life is as much about adapting as it is about cooking,” he said. “Patients often lose the ability to swallow or taste buds change due to medicines and treatment such as chemotherapy.

“Many in the hospice become sensitive to salt, so we moderate that. And we find that often people with cancer get a sweet tooth.”

Birthday cakes are a very common request for Spencer Richards (Sharon Vos-Arnold/Getty Images)

For Richards, a key factor is always in the care he takes not only in prepping the dishes but in their presentation, too.

“We don’t always know at the time what it means,” he said. “But we hear back later - families come back months afterward, just to say thank you.”

He continued: “At this stage in my career, I want to give back.

“Food is a powerfully emotive medium - it can summon childhood memories and create new lasting ones. That’s what we do here.”