The food portions in paintings of Jesus and The Last Supper have got super-sized. This is true. A Cornell University team have been spending their research funds proving this important discovery.

Professor Brian Wansink and his brother Craig led the research made into 52 of the most famous paintings of the biblical feast by masters including Leonardo da Vinci and Rubens. Their findings have just been published in the International Journal of Obesity. And they've proved the food on the plates in front of Jesus and his disciples grew, with the different interpretations of the event, up to two-thirds larger.

Said brother Brian, “I'm really not surprised by these findings because the size of our plates and food portions has increased.”

The team worked this out by scanning and calculating the relative measurements in the various paintings using computer design technology. (I'm not sure if this sounds like a doddle of a job I envy, or will put into the traffic warden category.) Between the oldest canvases studied painted around 1000 AD and the latest, painted during the 1700s, meals grew by 69 percent, plate size by 66 percent and bread portions by 23 percent. The increases took off most speedily in paintings between 1500 and 1900.

Conclusion: art imitates life. Would you believe it.

1 Comment

1. Lisa McCormack

   A Last Supper super-sized to biblical proportions? I was intrigued by your recent "Chew On This" item and did some digging about the study that will be published in the April 2010 issue of the International Journal of Obesity. I read that last year "Brian Wansink published research in the Annals of Internal Medicine showing that recipes in Joy of Cooking have seen their calorie counts per serving increase over successive editions—a full 63 percent in 70 years." And that, according to New York University nutrition and food studies professor Lisa Young, "A typical bagel in the 1950s was two ounces and equal to two slices of bread. Today, it's equal to five slices of bread."
   
   One article noted that "the researchers did not include wine in their study because most of the paintings do not depict wine" even though though the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke do not mention food other than bread and wine. No wine?! What's up with that? Meanwhile, I found a modern painting by artist Beverly Lopez that depicts a golden chalice of wine in every disciples' hand and another that features lobsters.
   
   Wansinks' study, sniffed Martin Binks, a behavioral health psychologist and a consultant at Duke University Medical Center is "not very meaningful science. We have real life examples of the increase in portion size — all you have to do is look at what's being sold at fast-food restaurants." Well, DUH! But where's the fun in that?
   
   Thanks for sharing with us some truly interesting food for thought.