Traditionally there hasn’t been much detail about what was likely consumed on that fateful evening over 2000 years ago, but now scientists have a hot new take.
One of the more intriguing mails to pop into our inbox this week concerned details about the latest WellnessPulse study, which compares the foods that were most probably plated up at the Last Supper with those served during a modern Easter dinner.
While the last Thursday before Easter traditionally commemorates the events of the Last Supper and its aftermath, there’s not much information for food geeks about what was likely consumed on that fateful evening. And we’re pretty sure nobody was calorie counting then either, what with having a little more to chew on that night than just the food in front of them.
However, over two millenia later, those who wonder about these things may now have their answer, thanks to the efforts of a group of modern researchers.
They’ve been poring their way through acres of scientific studies analysing changes in portion sizes based on a range of information sources, including the portions depicted in Last Supper paintings, research on the nutritional status of ancient Mediterranean populations, and scholarly analyses of Biblical-era diets in that region.
As a result, they’ve come up with an educated estimate of what foods and portions may have been served at the Last Supper. They’ve also gone one step further and compared that meal to modern Easter menu variations.
According to their analysis, a single serving at the Last Supper may have consisted of:
- Lamb (one thin slice, 10 g)
- Bean stew (three tablespoons, 42 g)
- Bread (one slice, 32 g)
- Olives (a handful, 34g)
- Dates (a handful, 80g)
The researchers then compared the nutritional value of the Last Supper to a serving of modern Easter dinner, which according to them traditionally includes:
- Two deviled eggs (60g)
- Glazed ham roast (one slice, 85g)
- Scalloped potatoes (a half-cup, 130 g)
- Green bean casserole (a half-cup, 120 g)
- Dinner roll with butter (a 28 g roll + one tablespoon of butter, 14 g)
- Carrot cake (a large piece, 100g)
Their comparative analysis of the Last Supper and a modern Easter meal reveals the calorie content of a typical modern Easter meal to be roughly two times higher than that of the Last Supper meal, at 1,087 kcal versus 449 kcal, respectively. The present-day Easter meal provides 35.3 g of protein, which is around three times higher than the Last Supper meal, which may have contained around 10.2 g of protein.
The researchers contend that a modern meal contains around 53.3 g of fat, an amount around six times larger than the Last Supper meal, estimated to provide 8.7 g of fat. The modern meal also contains slightly more carbohydrates than the Last Supper, 102.8 g and 83.3 g, respectively. The present-day meal contains 8.5 g of fibre, slightly less than the 9 g of fiber in the Last Supper meal.
We’re not entirely sure where they came up with that menu as the basis of a modern Easter meal, but where we come from, in keeping with the dish served at the Last Supper, lamb tends to be the centre-piece of an Easter plate. The researchers also seem to have omitted the wine, a critical part of the story and as much a feature of dining today as it was two thousand years ago. Since they were focused mainly on food, we can only conclude that perhaps beverages were beyond the scope of their research.
Those quibbles aside, the doubling of calories, we can get on board with. Historians indicate that two thousand years ago, famine was likely to occur during winter and spring, potentially explaining the modest portion sizes of the Last Supper, which is thought to have taken place in April.
If nothing else, something new to mull over and debate around the table this Easter.
The full report can be read here.
Words: Martina Murray
Image: The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci
