Our desire for tasty, exotic food dates back over 500 years. A new analysis of European painting shows that meat, bread, salt and sausages were among the most frequently depicted foods in paintings of the meals from the 16th century.
The study examined 750 food paintings from the past 500 years and focused on 140 paintings of family meals. Of the 36 paintings from the “Renaissance Period”, 86% depicted bread and 61% meat, while only 22% showed vegetables.
Interestingly, the most painted foods were not the most obvious foods of the time. For example, the most painted vegetable was artichoke, the most painted fruit was a lemon, and the most painted meats were shellfish, usually lobster.
