The Supersizing of the Last Supper

Kayshiz

Kayshiz

New member
Interesting, but expected:
The Supersizing of the Last Supper

Compiled by DAVE ITZKOFF
Published: March 23, 2010

How far back should a study go to show that food portions have increased over time? Ten years? Fifty years? What about all the way back to the Last Supper? A new article in The International Journal of Obesity doesn’t turn the clock back quite that far but looks at nearly a thousand years’ worth of paintings depicting the meal and concludes that the sizes of portions, plates and bread “increased dramatically” over those years. The study, conducted by two brothers — Brian Wansink, a professor of consumer behavior at Cornell and director of the school’s Food and Brand Lab; and Craig Wansink, a professor of religious studies at Virginia Wesleyan College — looks at 52 Last Supper paintings made between about 1000 and 1800, including famous depictions by Leonardo (detail, above), Titian and El Greco. After the size of the food in the artworks was indexed against the average size of the disciples’ heads (which can vary from painting to painting), the study found that the main courses grew by 69 percent, the plates by 66 percent and the bread by 23 percent. The authors are careful to qualify what these findings mean. “We can say that plates and the amounts grow in the paintings,” Craig Wansink said on Tuesday in a telephone interview. “Does that mean in terms of the actual culture and time that food itself increased? I don’t think we have the social and historical data to back that up. But we do have the data to show that food took on increasing prominence.”
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Coke Bottle

I was rummaging around in my basement the other day and I found an old Coke bottle that looked like it was about 60% of the normal size we see today.

I guess it makes sense, by the time you factor in the factories, the workers pay, trucking, advertising and marketing the actual soda was probably the cheapest thing to produce so why not give the consumer more of the stuff, spur on more sales and make everyone happy.

maybe?
 
that does make sense.
indeed food sizes nowadays are increasing in sizes so as to be recognized by consumers.
there are many new brands of food coming out in the market so companies will have to make something new so that there products will be in demand in the market.
 
It's cheaper for the food companies to offer bigger sizes. I just either save half of what I get or eat much less often. You save money that way if you're going to eat out.
 
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