Study Claims Last Supper Food Portions Grew for 1,000 Years

A new study asserts that the food portions depicted in paintings of the Last Supper as chronicled in the New Testament of the Bible linearly increased for 1,000 years. Brian and Craig Wansink, “The largest Last Supper: depictions of food portions and plate size increased over the millennium,” International Journal of Obesity, March 23, 2010. Authored by sibling scholars, the study examined 52 of the most artistically significant depictions of the Last Supper between the year 1000 and the year 2000, although Craig Wansink was quoted as saying the period of artwork considered ended about 1900 because few non-parodic Last Suppers have been created since then.

Using the size of the diners’ heads as a basis for comparison, the Wansinks determined that the relative sizes of the main course increased by 69.2 percent, bread by 23.1 percent and plates by 65.6 percent. “I think people assume that increased serving sizes, or ‘portion distortion,’ is a recent phenomenon,” Brian Wansink said. “But this research indicates that it’s a general trend for at least the last millennium.”

The Wansinks contend that the various versions of the Last Supper in all likelihood offer an accurate peephole into portion size because the artists’ attention was on religious themes. “Whether it was an artist working in 1200 or 1600, the main focus is probably not what’s on the table,” Brian said, adding that the amount of the food and size of the plates are what the artist thinks is appropriate “given the time and context in which he lives.” See U.S. News & World Report and Chicago Tribune, March 23, 2010.