Cornell’s favorite food-onomics professor, Brian Wansink, has most recently taken on the project of examining Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Wansink, John Dyson Endowed Chair in the AEM Department at Cornell University and director of Cornell’s Food and Brand Lab, has worked in tandem with his brother Craig, a biblical scholar at Virginia Wesleyan, to discover that the food portions in the painting have increased dramatically.
Their findings, which have been published in April’s issue of The International Journal of Obesity, showed that over the last 1,000 years, the main course size of the Last Supper increased by 69%, plate size by 66%, and bread loaves by 23%. The researchers used the disciples’ heads as a point of reference, comparing them to their dinners.
While it may seem like Wansink and Co. might be getting a little bored over there in Warren Hall, the economist-nutritionist asserts the larger pieces of bread indicate a long-lasting trend in consumption patterns.
I think people assume that increased serving sizes, or ‘portion distortion,’ is a recent phenomenon. But this research indicates that it’s a general trend for at least the last millennium.” … Why the increase in portion sizes? The researchers suggest they may reflect the better-fed lifestyles of the artists and their contemporaries, as time went by — a result of “dramatic socio-historic increases in the production, availability, safety, abundance and affordability of food.” Which sheds new light on today’s overeating culture.
OK, fair enough, but even more entertaining are the reader comments, where people rapidly diverged onto tangents which ranged from defensive religious claims to calls for obesity cures. Comments after the jump – they are quite funny.
Nancy said… Hi Rebecca ~~ I have been thinking about colon clensing for a while now, I was just concerned if it would hurt us in any way.
I’m also bloated ALL of the time and I am so unconfortable with myself. Nothing looks good on me any more. I have always been thin and can’t believe how I look now.
I guess that I should try this.
Thanks for your comment.
Nancy in Upstate NYLisa Jacob said… Is this what research money is paid for? Why is the amount of the servings so important. The message is not in what they ate or even how much. Find something else to study. Our society is so screwed up. People like these researchers spend way to much time trying to deceifer insignifcant facts that have nothing to do with the reality of the the situation. Why is how much they ate important? Jesus’s message to all of us is what is important. Get a real job. Stop depending on the governments research money or private funding grants to study uselessness. Use the money for a worthwhile study like how to feed the people who are hungary today.
Anne said…Those of you who trash our President out of racism or the mistaken belief that he is the cause of all this country’s current woes need to remember that more people voted FOR him than for anyone else, and the fact that you can’t come up with anything substantial and legitimate to criticize does nothing but demonstrate your irrational hate, your lack of maturity and education, and a probable dearth of innate intelligence. Oh, and the ability to repeat rote rhetoric without sentience. By JOVE! I think I’ve solved a mystery which has been plaguing me. I can’t help but wonder that the political party most associated with Christianity is the party of selfishness and hate and exclusion, in other words, Republicans, bu
fred said… why do so called experts treat this mural as a photograph. Researchers know that DaVinci was somewhat of a joker and scoundrel. Now to treat this painting as something oter than a religious classic.
Antique Organ said… The real message is what Christ was saying and teaching at the last supper, Not what was on the table……………………..Learn this and you won’t worry about what and how much is on the table.
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