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 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.
Har!
Thanks for the warning if I ever travel there. It is amazing how doing normal things can cause offense when in another culture. I understand that in the middle east, sitting in such a way that the bottom of your shoes can be seen as an insult. I do think that we got to research such things before we visit other countries.
Animby said, on March 23rd, 2010 at 5:34 pm
“Benjamin: No disagreement with what you said in #8. Just a side point. I am currently living in SE Asia. Here, it is shameful to leave a guest unsatisfied. On the other hand, if you clean your plate, you are subtly stating you did not get enough food.”
#20
Have you ever been on food stamps?
First, if you have no place of residence you can’t get them. Just like welfare. Second, Native Americans can get food stamps but they are to be used in retail stores and some reservations are FAR from retail stores. Third, they do not give enough in food stamps to actually stop a family from being hungry. In many cases they provide enough for one meal a day when they are distributed once a month.
So people go hungry. Not starve, but hunger is still an issue. Of course the government calls it Food Insecurity. Which to me sounds more like there may be the presence of ecoli or tricinosis than not having enough to eat.
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#22 Cursor, I have a challenge for you. Find out how much food you can buy with a month’s worth of food stamps. I promise to live within that budget for food for a whole month. I will not buy snacks from gas stations, nor order pizza, nor eat in restaurants during that month. Nor will I beable to enjoy alcoholic beverages or soda during that time.
I bet you I will not go hungry during that time. I will probably get tired of tuna, tomato soup, Mac & cheese, eggs, and toast, but there will be food in my belly. I will also miss ordering pizza.
#15 “a guy who has no problem believing in superstring infinity number of multi-universes including every permutation of himself.”
That’s pretty easy to believe in, some things are a lot harder.