# Christ eating a pickle in restored "Last Supper"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** arts-crafts
**Created:** [January 17, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746 "2021-01-17T17:57:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/1 "2021-01-17T17:57:12Z")
A beautiful restoration of a nun’s “Last Supper”. Especially compared to the horrible restorations making the news in the past few years. But my question is what is the big guy eating? In the closeup further down the page he is clearly eating a pickle in his right hand (There’s some serious Heinz adverting fodder!)
But what the heck is the main course? It wouldn’t be a sucking pig would it?
> **[Renaissance Nun's 'Last Supper' Painting Makes Public Debut After 450 Years...](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/renaissance-nuns-last-supper-scene-goes-view-florence-180973374/)**
>
> The 21-foot canvas, created by self-taught artist and nun Plautilla Nelli, is now on view in Florence
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/2 "2021-01-17T18:02:34Z")
It’s a breadstick. They’re free with a party of twelve or more.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/3 "2021-01-17T18:05:52Z")
There’s a closeup in the main article that makes it clear - it’s a really big circus peanut.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/4 "2021-01-17T18:07:42Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> But what the heck is the main course? It wouldn’t be a sucking pig would it?
Probably. The artist lived in a city where the main landmark was a statue of a King of Israel sporting a foreskin. I don’t think they ascribed the proclivities (or even appearance) of Renaissance Jews to those depicted in the Bible.
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### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/5 "2021-01-17T18:08:51Z")
As for the small animal in the dish, I can’t make out what it is or might be, even in the closeup further down in the article, (I assume your suggestion of suckling pig is a joke, but just in case, remember that these are all observant Jews.) The face frankly looks a little like a monkey. Could it be a large rabbit, with the large haunches and small front legs? No, not with those tiny ears. I give up.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/6 "2021-01-17T18:08:57Z")
Also don’t forget that the Last Supper would have been a Passover meal, so a suckling pig is no more incongruous than the loaves of leavened bread also present in the painting.
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/7 "2021-01-17T18:10:55Z")
> [@mixdenny](#):
>
> But what the heck is the main course? It wouldn’t be a sucking pig would it?
From the article you linked to:
> [@](#):
>
> As Chernick reports in a separate [_Atlas Obscura_](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/first-last-supper-woman-painter-florence) article, Nelli chose to depict Jesus and his 12 apostles dining on fare typically enjoyed by the residents of Santa Caterina. In addition to traditional wine and bread, she included a whole roasted lamb, lettuce heads and fava beans.
\
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#):
>
> There’s a closeup in the main article that makes it clear - it’s a really big circus peanut.
Looks like a kosher dill to me.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/8 "2021-01-17T18:16:52Z")
My breadstick comment was just a joke, but I’d still put money on it being bread and a reference to communion.
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### Author:  [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/9 "2021-01-17T18:17:21Z")
Christ eating a pickle on a pogo stick,new catch phrase!
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/10 "2021-01-17T18:18:45Z")
The thing on the table looks more like a beaver to me.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/11 "2021-01-17T18:20:52Z")
Is that Judas in front? Do halos work like in Minority Report, where they disappear ahead of time if you are _going_ to betray Jesus?
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/12 "2021-01-17T18:25:09Z")
- Some images of the [Last Supper](https://www.christianiconography.info/lastSupper.html) dramatize the passage from John 13:21-30 in which Jesus tells the Apostles that one of them will betray him. To John, he adds that it will be the one to whom he hands a piece of bread that has been “dipped” ([image](https://www.christianiconography.info/Edited%20in%202013/Croatia%202012/lastSupperKastav.html)). Other Last Supper images follow Matthew 26:23, where Jesus says, “He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, he shall betray me.”\*
[Judas in Art](https://www.christianiconography.info/judas.html)
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/13 "2021-01-17T18:26:12Z")
Yes, that is Judas. I believe at this point he knew he was going to betray Christ, so his halo disappeared.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/14 "2021-01-17T18:34:29Z")
Mozzarella stick. Tough to ID the critter, that artist wasn’t very good, eh?
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/15 "2021-01-17T18:42:45Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#):
>
> The thing on the table looks more like a beaver to me.
My favorite depiction of the Last Supper showing local culinary customs is [this one](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/guinea-pig-last-supper) from the cathedral in Cuzco, Peru, featuring roast guinea pig, an Andean specialty (and definitely not kosher).
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/16 "2021-01-17T19:13:10Z")
At least she got rid of the kangaroo!
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/17 "2021-01-17T19:48:14Z")
Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce
Kosher orders don’t upset us
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/18 "2021-01-17T19:52:05Z")
Did you notice that of all the disciples, she made Judas the most Jewish? 🤨
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/19 "2021-01-17T19:56:08Z")
Was it common not to take the head off of the lamb when you roasted one back then? It may be Kosher but it don’t seem right.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2021, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christ-eating-a-pickle-in-restored-last-supper/930746/20 "2021-01-17T19:57:16Z")
Are you kidding? That’s the best part! 🥰
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