The Last Supper: Actor, rapper, comedian and YouTube star Michael Dapaah tells us why his last meal on earth would be his mum’s jollof rice
Food has always been a big thing in my house. My mum was a catering officer back in Ghana and she’s a great cook.
She cooks everything from Ghanian dishes like jollof rice to a really good Sunday roast or lasagne. I do a bit of cooking myself, too. I started learning how in food tech, where they taught me how to fry an egg, then I worked my way up to a rice cooker, which was a bit of a turning point, now I make my own sauces and stews. I even bake biscuits. It’s a very experimental process – I see something I like and try to recreate it.
My mum still cooks salmon for me once a week. That’s my favourite food, especially when I’m training and have to be careful about what I eat. You end up getting through a lot of chicken, fish, rice, fish and sweet potatoes. It’s not exciting so it’s all about trying to get a bit of flavour in there, which is hard when you’re avoiding oil and butter. It can be tough eating well when I’m really busy. I have a natural sweet tooth so it can be tempting to just gorge on sweets – if you plan ahead it makes it easier to resist.
I go to Nando’s a couple of times a week. If I’m on the go I’ll get a double chicken wrap, with avocado and halloumi on the side. If I’m a bit more settled and have time to eat properly I’ll get a half a chicken with some rice, avocado – that’s another standard – maybe some coleslaw. If I’m going a bit more upmarket I’ll go to Hakkasan, or there’s a place called Zen Lounge in Croydon that serves a 24K gold steak with actual gold leaf covering it. It sounds mad but it’s actually very good.
My last supper is basically going to be my mum’s cooking. First up is a big bowl of her jollof rice. It reminds me of being at home. I love plantain, so I’ll definitely order some of that. I’ll have a salmon fillet, because it’s something I never get tired of. I’d have some mac ‘n’ cheese shipped over from the States, because they do it so much better than we do. The Palm Beach in Mayfair does the best prawns I’ve eaten in my life, so they can send some over for me. I should get some veg too, so I’ll have a bit of broccoli.
For dessert, I’ll have caramel cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory, this great American chain that started in Los Angeles. I know this is a pretty big meal but I’m going to treat it like Christmas and really pace myself so I can get through it all. I’m going to wash it all down with a really nice, refreshing pina colada, flown over from STK in Ibiza. That’ll do nicely.
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