Oh hey, have you heard? Things are getting bigger – plates and portions, pant sizes and stadium seats - I know, this is such old news, but Cornell University has a new take on the issue of our growing portion sizes. As it turns out, this phenomenon is ever older.
Portion sizes of the food in paintings of The Last Supper were meticulously analyzed and the results are in. According to this study that analyzed the size of the feast in 52 different paintings, by comparing the sizes of heads to plates, an increase in size of as much as two-thirds was noticed in the meal placed in front of Jesus and his disciples. According to their analysis, they found that paintings completed after 1500 to 1900AD depict the greatest increases in the size of food on the table. Most findings conclude that the main meal appears to have grown 69% and plate size 66% between the oldest painting (from 1000AD) and most recent 1700s paintings. For the carb-lovers, bread grew by 23% as an article from BBC news shares.
A professor of religion studies, Crag Wansink comments, “There is no religious reason why the meals got bigger. It may be the meals really did grow, or that people just became more interested in food,” reiterating his idea that culture rather than ideology is probably the reason for the change.
I consider myself to be the polar opposite of an expert in art history, meaning I know next to nothing on the subject, but I couldn’t help but question the methods of this study. Can you really compare the body parts of holy figures to plates of food? I have seen many paintings where Jesus is purposefully larger than the other figures to signify his importance. So, are these findings legitimate? Thankfully, I came across a post from the blog of Biological Studies professor Carl Pyrdum, Got Medieval and a post titled “What's All This about Super-Sized Last Suppers?” Pyrdum shares evidence somewhat harshly, very bluntly but effectively for the sake of criticism that highlights the flaws in this study. If this interests you at all, definitely give his post a read.
Whether or not this study is helpful to our understanding of the obesity epidemic or of our tendency to super-size just about anything, it at least grabbed our attention yet again. Keeping an eye on the actual problem and focusing on the potential for a solution is most important. Experts like Lisa Young, NYU nutrition professor and author of her book “The Portion Teller Plan,” commented “I can’t tell you what the disciples were eating at the Last Supper — but when McDonald’s first opened, a soda was only 7 ounces, and today it’s [as big as] 32 ounces,” Young says.
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