The first stage of Jefferson's progression is of him thinking of himself as a hog and eating like a hog. While Ms. Emma is there, Jefferson refuses to eat anything and hardly speaks. Later when grant comes in alone, he asks for corn rather than the food that Grant brought. When prompted, he eats straight out of the basket without hands, explaining that that's how hogs eat. This stage defines him as being a hog, potentially turning slightly human.
The second stage comes a while later soon after Jefferson learns of his date of execution. Grant talks to him about it and Jefferson mentions that he wanted an entire gallon of ice cream to eat with a pot spoon. This stage also shows him reluctantly eating the food given to him by his nanan because "it would make her happy." These things are attributes that a child would exhibit: dreams of eating lots of junk food and squeamishness towards anything not junk food. This is important, as it represents a shift in Jefferson's perspective, from hog to human.
The final stage occurs right before and during Jefferson's own narration through his notebook. Jefferson goes back on his claim to eat a gallon of ice cream and instead requests that his nanan make a large meal of all his favorite foods for him. Also, right before this he offers to share food with Grant: a generous and human thing to do. This represents Jefferson's change from child to man, as he is more levelheaded and down-to-earth, and recognizes the people in his surroundings. While this is in its simplest form, a child would rarely give food willingly to someone unless they or the recipient hated said food, and a hog wouldn't care in the slightest.
This change from hog to child to man can be seen in other aspects of the book as well, however Jefferson's relationship with food while he is on death row most accurately represents the changes being made inside himself as he "grows up" in the months that he is there.
I like this "timeline" of Jefferson's development traced through his evolving relationship with food--and with the socially significant "Nannan's food" specifically. It's great, and definitely a sign of maturity, that he not only does the right thing by requesting his godmother's home cooking for his last meal; he does it because that's the food he *wants*, both for its flavor AND its social/familial significance. It's not as if he'd really rather have that gallon of ice cream, but he's doing what he's "supposed to do" because Grant told him it's his duty. He says it's the best food he's ever tasted. He similtaneously enjoys the aesthetic experience of eating AND the social significance of making his Nannan proud.
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