1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:10,879 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren vogelbam here. Flick through your Instagram feed 3 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: and what do you find? Juicy burgers oozing with cheese, 4 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: massive steaks lathered with butter, deep fried candy bars atop 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,240 Speaker 1: mountains of ice cream? And is that gold leaf towering 6 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:25,639 Speaker 1: bloody Mary's crowned with bacon and corn, dogs and pizza? 7 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: And enough already? Who actually eats all this? Even during 8 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 1: a global pandemic? These posts haven't gone away, They've just 9 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 1: been supplemented with banana bread. Is our obsession with hashtag crave? 10 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 1: Where the hashtag food porn? Hashtag noms ever going to end? Well? 11 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: If history is any guide, and it is not anytime soon. 12 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 1: A study out of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab 13 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 1: from found that at least since the sixteenth century CE, 14 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: western painters have depicted food more luxurious, rare, and in 15 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 1: dull gent than what people of the time actually eight 16 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,199 Speaker 1: from day to day. In a press release, co author 17 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 1: Andrew Weiss's logal said, our love affair with visually appealing, 18 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:13,399 Speaker 1: decadent or status foods is nothing new. It was already 19 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: well established five hundred years ago. Narrowed down from an 20 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: initial group of seven and fifty paintings, the researchers focused 21 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:24,960 Speaker 1: on a hundred forty Western, European and American paintings that 22 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: depicted small family meals. The paintings spanned five hundred years 23 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: and depicted a grand total of a hundred and four 24 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,759 Speaker 1: different types of food. Focusing on a time of change 25 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: in European and American cuisines allowed the scientists to look 26 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: at a context in which medieval dishes and cooking styles persisted, 27 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,399 Speaker 1: but innovative techniques and newly traded ingredients from around the 28 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: globe were becoming more well known as the drive for 29 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:55,640 Speaker 1: colonization introduced Europeans to everything from cinnamon to tomatoes. To 30 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: analyze the changes over the years, the researchers grouped paintings 31 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: into three categories according to year of creation, the era 32 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 1: of European exploration and colonization that is fifteen hundred to 33 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 1: sixteen fifty, the Era of Enlightenment sixteen fifty one to 34 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty, and the industrial slash post industrial era eighteen 35 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: fifty one to two thousand. The researchers focused their examination 36 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:24,360 Speaker 1: because most paintings of feasts or banquets are perhaps obviously 37 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: hard to square with what's historically known about how people 38 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: really ate from day to day, and not that wildly 39 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:35,240 Speaker 1: lavish banquets didn't happen. By the fifteen hundreds, Decorating food 40 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 1: with the aforementioned gold leaf was so pauti in Italy 41 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: that authorities in Padua suggested that, in order to preserve 42 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: the supply of gold, no more than two courses of 43 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: any given feast should be gilded. But that wasn't a 44 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: daily thing for most people, and just as nobody today 45 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: is getting instagram famous with pictures of their microwave dinners 46 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: or plates of box pasta, painters of Yore also avoided 47 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: the humdrum of ham or porridge. In fact, the most 48 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:10,119 Speaker 1: frequently eaten foods, which included chicken, eggs, cheese, milk, and squash, 49 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:14,640 Speaker 1: were the most infrequently painted. And here are some other 50 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: interesting takeaways from the study. Italian paintings depicted sausages at 51 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: more than twice the rate of other countries. More than 52 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: half of the paintings from the Netherlands contained lemons, which 53 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: is a decidedly nonindigenous fruit imported from the tropics, and 54 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: shellfish were most commonly painted in countries with the smallest coastlines, 55 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 1: but its frequency of appearance dropped over time as shellfish 56 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:43,200 Speaker 1: became more prevalent in those areas. Lead author Brian Wansink 57 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 1: said meals involving less than healthy foods aren't a modern craving. 58 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: Paintings from what's sometimes called the Renaissance period were loaded 59 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 1: with the foods modern diets. Ward is about salt, sausages, bread, 60 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 1: and more bread. Today's episode was written by Christopher Hasciotis 61 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and 62 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: lots of other lavish topics, visit how stuff works dot com. 63 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio. Or more 64 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: podcasts to my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, 65 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.