Catherine has made the point that jurors often feel mistreated while being forced to wait in uncomfortable rooms and eat unpalatable food only when they are so permitted. This situation has not been ignored by authors of courtroom dramas.

In The Runaway Jury by John Grisham, there's a key scene depicting the resentment of jurors sitting on a case in Biloxi. After the judge's recess is called, they wait with increasing frustration for a deli lunch to be delivered to the jury room. In fact, the non-delivery is part of a plot to influence them. After an hour, one juror (who's part of the plot) sneaks out and walks down the street to Mary Mahoney's, a locally famous restaurant where he knows that the judge will be lunching. On the judge's table, he saw warm bread, leafy salads, and large glasses of iced tea. When the judge saw the juror -- recognizing him by his badge -- "his fork froze halfway up with a meaty grilled shrimp stuck to the end of it." Judge Harkin also had "a speck of goat cheese on his lower lip."

The juror describes how the jury has been waiting for an hour: "We're hungry, sir, and we're upset." The judge quickly checks into the jury's lack of food, and invites them to eat at Mahoneys. "They dined on crabcakes and grilled snapper, fresh oysters, and Mahoney's famous gumbo." This good will established in the jury is a key to later events in the book (p. 75-77).

In The Oath by John Lescroart, jurors and other court figures head from the Hall of Justice in San Francisco to a dive across the street. Their destination is Lou the Greek's, which has been "an institution for a generation."

"The entrance was through a frankly urine-stained bail bondsman's corridor, which led to an unlit stairway -- six steps to a set of leatherette double doors....at 11:00 the kitchen opened and the place would fill up fast." In these carefully-described seedy surroundings "Lou's wife, Chui, would recombine and endless variety of Chinese and Greek ingredients for her daily special, which was the only item on the menu. Lou... would give it a name like Kung-Pao Chicken Pita or Yeanling Happy Family, and customers couldn't seem to get enough.... "Lou's popularity as a lunch spot was a continuing mystery even for those who frequently ate there themselves."

Lou the Greek's figures in other San Francisco courtroom novels by the same author. In this one the customers are lawyers and courtroom reporters and the like. Jury members too are stuck with the minimal choices and poor quality of Lou the Greek's, which adds local color and atmosphere to Lescroart's courtroom dramas. (p. 23 -24)

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