The Rumored Last Meal Of John Lennon Was Simple But Surprising

British musician John Lennon is best known as the co-leader of The Beatles, arguably the most popular band of all time. However, he also had many lesser-known interests in writing and graphic art. And when he wasn't rocking out on stage or authoring a number of books, he was adhering to a very unique diet.

According to James L. Dickerson's 1999 novel "Last Suppers: If the World Ended Tomorrow, What Would Be Your Last Meal?", John Lennon's final meal was a corned beef sandwich washed down with a cup of hot tea at a deli. But according to many sources, Lennon was usually following a vegetarian diet. While there are many theories regarding John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono's strange eating behaviors, there is a general consensus that he was what would now be considered a "flexitarian" or a "semi-vegetarian," while also dipping into a macrobiotic diet. This makes the fact that his final meal was a beef-stuffed sandwich a bit tough to swallow.

Lennon's food quirks were a topic of much confusion and debate over the years. He would give confusing answers to questions regarding vegetarianism, but it was confirmed by his close friend Pete Shotton (in his 1983 book "John Lennon: In My Life") that Lennon would accept his offers of vegetarian substitutes for meat. Bandmate George Harrison was also a vegetarian but not for the same reasons, as Harrison was religious and Lennon instead was pushed more by his positive feelings towards animals.

Lennon could have also been more concerned about health than anything else when choosing what to put on his plate, as he told interviewer David Sheff that he and Ono were following a macrobiotic diet in a September 1980 interview for Playboy magazine. Following a macrobiotic diet ultimately means avoiding toxins, and those adhering to a macrobiotic diet will often be following a vegan diet as well (though this is not always true, especially in Lennon's case). In this interview, Ono confirmed that the couple "went through vegetarianism and macrobiotic" diets but "[does] eat some junk food" from time to time; she also stated that they attempted "to stick to ... fish and rice, [and] whole grains."