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May 10, 2013

Strange But True!

Q. Going by artistic renderings of the event, how much was eaten at “The Last Supper”?

A. That depends on what years you're talking about, say Daniel L. Schacter et al. in “Psychology: Second Edition.” When researchers Brian and Craig Wansink analyzed 52 paintings of “The Last Supper” done between 1000 and 1800, they noted most of them show bread, fish and wine on the table, with portions starting out at roughly size 3 out of 10 (with 10 representing a very large portion) and staying that way for some 400 years. But by about 1500, they had grown to 4 out of 10, then all the way up to 7 out of 10 by 1800, and extrapolated to close to 9 out of 10 by today! Interestingly, “the main dish increased 69 percent in the paintings, the size of the plate increased 66 percent and the bread 23 percent over the time period studied” (from psychologist Susan Albers in “Comfort Cravings”).


 
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