Super-sizing the "Last Supper" - researchers analyzed 52 paintings depicting the Last Supper

[The Straight Story]

Super-sizing the "Last Supper"

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - We've been overeating our way through ever-larger portions over the past 1,000 years, a U.S. study revealed after studying more than 50 paintings of the Biblical Last Supper.


The study, by a Cornell University professor and his brother who is a Presbyterian minister and a religious studies professor, showed that the sizes of the portions and plates in the artworks, which were painted over the past millennium, have gradually grown by between 23 and 69 percent.

This finding suggests that the phenomenon of serving bigger portions on bigger plates, which pushes people to overeat, has also occurred gradually over the same time period, said Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.

"The last thousand years have witnessed dramatic increases in the production, availability, safety, abundance and affordability of food," Wansink, author of "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think," said in a statement.

"We think that as art imitates life, these changes have been reflected in paintings of history's most famous dinner."

The researchers analyzed 52 paintings depicting the Last Supper which were featured in the 2000 book "Last Supper" by Phaidon Press, and used computer-aided design technology to analyze the size of the main meals, or entrees, bread and the plates relative to the average size of the disciples' heads.

The study found that, over the past 1,000 years, the size of the main meal has progressively grown 69 percent; plate size has increased 66 percent and bread size by about 23 percent.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62M1HG20100323

[rfranklin]

1. supersize me!

Yet we still have widespread starvation and malnourishment.

[xchrom]

2. Now that's interesting. Nt

[eridani]

3. I like it that this trend seems to go along with greatly increased life expectancies. n/t

[elocs]

4. It does make sense that the painting would reflect the size of meal portions

and plate sizes at the time of the paintings.

I know when the kids were little a large plate was good for disguising the small amount of veggies we were trying to get them to eat.

[hedgehog]

5. Yet somehow obesity became a problem c. 1970!

[Cirque du So-What]

6. If the last supper were held today

Jesus would need to set out an all-you-can-eat buffet in order to make sure all 12 disciples actually showed up.

[Javaman]

7. don't forget the bottomless soda dispencer!

Jesus: Hey Thomas, get me another Dew, will ya?

Thomas: I don't know, all that HFCS...

[Cirque du So-What]

12. Judas would fetch the Dew

To your health, Big Guy! Drink hearty!

[woo me with science]

9. He'd also need vegetarian and gluten-free menu alternatives. nt

[woo me with science]

10. Kosher? sugar free? nt

[Javaman]

14. Someone needs to do a last supper painting reflecting

todays diet.

fat jesus. (Not politically correct, whatever)

[Poll_Blind]

20. Paul leans over to Jesus "I saw Judas scooping Szechuan chicken into his satchel and I think...

...the waitress is going to bust us."

Jesus thinks a moment "Have Judas call the police and tell them where we are. Have him load that fucking man-purse with as much chicken as he can, but get him to toss on some potstickers too- I effing love those."

Paul hesitates "You sure? They're going to make you walk the punch line for this if they get ya."

Jesus says "Yeah, no it's all part of my plan. Look, after I come back from the dead we'll have enough food for an after-party. It'll be be boss."

Paul still hesitates.

Jeus says "What's the holdup now?!", exasperated.

Paul lowers his head "I don't have change for the payphone."

Jesus rolls his eyes, reaching into his robes and rolling his eyes. "Me fucking me, dude..."

PB

[Javaman]

21. "Me fucking me, dude..."

!!!!!

:spray: :rofl:

LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!

[Poll_Blind]

22. I love some of the images posters evoke in my head here, lol. n/t

PB

[Brickbat]

8. And nutrition has gotten better, and people have gotten bigger over the last 2,000 years.

I freaking hate pseudo-science articles.

[Javaman]

19. Technically, yes and no.

While it appears from the archaeological record that humans have increased in size, it has little to due with nutritional value, per say. While nutrition is very important, it isn't the only factor.

People back than, from evidence uncovered in Pompeii, had roughly they same caloric intake as people today.

What "increased" our size or more apt, health, was: medicine, education, sanitation, and clean water.

If people back then understood these basic elements, the physiological make up of the average human would have greatly increased as well as their lifespans and probably would have been equal to ours today.

There were people who lived, to what we consider today, ripe old ages, but they were few and far between.

It's no mystery that those who worked in, what we term white collar jobs, at the time, lived longer. While, the same happens today, blue collar workers back then, (and by and large today), usually had to deal with the more hazardous jobs, live a shorter life span and/or their quality of life is decreased. Peons of society, then and as today, have harder lives.

[Matariki]

11. People's life spans have dramatically increased over the past 1000 years as well

wonder if it's between 23 and 69 percent?

[Javaman]

17. Life spans may possibly have increased due to more available food but...

it has more to due with better sanitation, education, better medicine, clean water and available drugs.

With each leap in technology, our life spans have increased.

If a pig farmer in Europe in the 11th century had understood the concepts of clean water and water born illness, more than likely, his family would have lived longer.

Also, if a city dweller in 14th century Europe, understood that the fleas on the rats carried the plague, they would have understood that sanitation would help combat the disease.

If basic concepts of not raising cows next to his pig sty were understood, then need for pasteurization wouldn't have been required.

People need roughly 2500 calories per day to have a proper diet.

If the basic tenets of medicine were understood, vitamin C along with vitamin D (sunlight) would have prevented scurvy.

The list goes on and on, food only plays a small part. It's what you eat it and it's nutritional value that matters.

An Obese person can die of malnutrition.

[woo me with science]

13. Bwah!

Now that's a creative way to find support for your agenda!

We saw a Monty Python stage performance from 1982 on TV last night. They had a skit where the Pope was arguing with Michelangelo about his "Last Supper" painting. Michelangelo was arguing for his artistic vision, which included close to 30 disciples (you want a hopping party!) and circus acts.

[TalkingDog]

15. Ummmm....it doesn't account for socio-political issues.

Interesting theory. The flaw in it lies in who is funding the work and who it is supposed to "represent". The wealthy (church, king, duke) patron is going to promote his largess in every way possible. Who is this King that can't even arrange for Jesus to have enough to eat on his last day?

The average worker/serf/laborer was not going to have access to the food or the image, so until he starts including images like "The Potato Eaters" I'm withholding judgement.

[Hekate]

27. Bingo. Changes to the original story occurred early, starting with the substitution of bread ...

... for matzo. The Last Supper was a Passover Seder, where most of the menu was strictly predetermined, including the unleavened bread and the wine. However every artistic rendering of it that I have ever seen shows a plump loaf being torn.

An artist needed a patron, and flattery of the patron's notions was no small consideration. Like you, I wonder about the rest of the story.

Hekate

[old mark]

16. Obviously this is a miracle - jesus made the plates bigger !!!!nt

[Javaman]

18. didn't he say something about

"my cup runith over"?

:rofl:

[old mark]

24. And then he said, " Do you want fries with that?"....nt

[Javaman]

25. Jesus size me! LOL nt

[old mark]

WOW, man - they just APPEARED, like, out of NOWHERE!!!!

Food service Jesus.

mark

[Javaman]

28. Not only that, but he turned the Sprite into Coke!!!

:rofl:

[old mark]

26. Delete-dupe nt.

[Bucky]

23. In the Battlestar Galactica version, no one is eating

It's just books and shit. At least in the LOST version they have some of that Dharma Initiative grub.



And, inevitably...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zqFoq3qej2c/S0OeqrwKcjI/AAAAAAABNCs/yEl6hp93zOY/s400/The+Simpsons+Last+Supper.jpg