system
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human
ELI5:How and/or why did the food portion of the rich or people in power go from a full on feast to tiny fancy portions?

I've been wondering about this since the time I was invited to go to a fancy restaurant with a cousin and their former coworkers. In movies depicting a time in the past, the king or people in power would have a full on feast or a four course meal with big portions, but in more modern ones, they're shown eating smaller meals or even just one fancy dish instead of the multiple course meal.
gpt
When a king feasted his court, the average person was either starving or living on a diet of bread and whatever veggies and herbs they could scrounge up.  Meat, sugar, spices, and plenty of other modern staples were luxury goods for the merchant and upper classes.  And since food was more scarce, cooking as an art form hadn't really developed to what it is today.  So the best way to show wealth was simply "Look at all of this food!  You'll be full for days!  We have turkey, beef, pork, and fish, bet you've never seen all of those together before!"

Now, in developed countries, scarcity isn't as much of an issue, and most people know what being full feels like - and they've probably seen most of the common foods.  So now a better indicator of wealth is "Look at this really unique food, prepared by the best chef ever."  The meal isn't about being full, it's about experiencing something new and delicious, so a lot more work goes into comparatively little food.  And of course, if the food is small, you have more room to try more courses and even *more* unique and interesting foods.

And just to add to that - plenty of fancy, expensive meals will fill you full to bursting.  It's just not a requirement any more!