What does “wouldn’t take much” mean in this case?

[Bin Duan]

This expression I quoted came from a video game called Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. It is a 2016 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the fourth main entry in the Uncharted series. Set several years after the events of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, players control Nathan Drake, a former treasure hunter coaxed out of retirement by his presumed-dead brother Samuel. With Nathan's longtime partner, Victor Sullivan, they search for clues to the location of Henry Avery's long-lost treasure. A Thief's End is played from a third-person perspective, and incorporates platformer elements. Players solve puzzles and use firearms, meleecombat, and stealth to combat enemies. In the online multiplayer mode, up to ten players engage in co-operative and competitive modes.
The conversation I quoted from was a part between the two brothers Nathan Drake and his older brother Samuel Drake. They were left orphans by some unknown reason. And when they were teenagers, they were trying to find their mom’s notebook containing some important messages. They both trespassed on a mansion where the notebook was supposed be kept and were surprised by how rich the owner of the place was along the way.
When they stepped into the dining hall, Nathan said,

“Wow. This table is as big as the ones in the orphanage dining hall.”

And Samuel said, “ I bet the food here was better.” Then Nathan goes, “ (chuckles)Wouldn’t take much.” Sam, ”Damn they must’ve thrown some great parties in here.” Nate, ”Judging by the artifacts…they certainly had enough money for it.”

So here is the question: what does wouldn’t take much mean in this case?

 

[Barque]

what does wouldn’t take much mean in this case?

He was saying the food in the orphanage wasn't particularly good, and so it wouldn't have taken much effort for the food served in the mansion to have been better. He was either half-joking or meant it.

 

[probus]

I don't think there is any chance he was "half-joking". "Wouldn't take much" is an ironic and emphatic way of saying that the food had been so very bad that even a slight improvement would be worthwhile.

 

[5jj]

I think the stage direction, chuckles, indicates the possibility of a half-joking remark.

 

[Bin Duan]

He was saying the food in the orphanage wasn't particularly good, and so it wouldn't have taken much effort for the food served in the mansion to have been better. He was either half-joking or meant it.

“He was saying the food in the orphanage wasn't particularly good”, I understood this part well. However, when it comes to “to have been better” part. It confuses me. I mean I understand the grammatical structure regarding it wouldn’t take much effort to do something. This would be pretty clear to me. Frankly speaking, I know the basic plot of this part of storyline let alone the Chinese version of this game
But I don’t know how to use wouldn’t take much. What is the complete form of this sentence, you know, sometimes, people omit stuff to save time and effort, like Nathan did in here. Can anyone show me some examples dialogues or anything to help me understand better, thanks

 

[probus]

Here are three examples drawn from the Corpus of Contemporary American English.

1. Abolishing the use of plea bargains wouldn't take much.

2. It wouldn't take much to make it something special.

3. It wouldn't take much to remake her old bedroom for James.

 

[Tarheel]

It could mean it wouldn't require a lot of effort, or it could mean that not a lot of money would be needed.

 

[5jj]

Here are three examples drawn from the Corpus of Contemporary American English.

Here's another one:

My mother was like a candle, thin and bright. It would not take much to blow her out.

 

[Barque]

But I don’t know how to use wouldn’t take much. What is the complete form of this sentence

It's a shortened version of "[It] wouldn't take much [effort]". In this case, it needs to be read as "[It] wouldn't [have] taken[n] much [effort]".

 

[5jj]

In this case, it needs to be read as "[It] wouldn't [have] taken[n] much [effort]".

I don't agree. It's simply "It wouldn't take much effort".

 

[Bin Duan]

,love you people. So many responses to my questions that I couldn’t help but show my admiration and respect to this wonderful place.
Back to my question, could it be possible that this expression refers to it wouldn’t take much effort to bet/think/guess etc. that the food here was better? I have a strong feeling that this could be the one, isn’t it?

 

[Tarheel]

No. It wouldn't take much effort to make the food better. In other words, the food was so bad that it wouldn't be hard to make better food.

 

[Barque]

I don't agree. It's simply "It wouldn't take much effort".

I used the past tense because they're speaking of the food that was served there in the past.

 

[Bin Duan]

No. It wouldn't take much effort to make the food better. In other words, the food was so bad that it wouldn't be hard to make better food.

I’m getting a tad clear about the first part of your feedback this time despite the fact that I have no idea what the second half means. Nevertheless, the #7 also became easier for me to get the picture.

 

[5jj]

I used the past tense because they're speaking of the food that was served there in the past.

1. It wouldn't take much for the food to be better (at any time) than it was then.

2. It wouldn't have taken much for the food to be better (in the past) than it was.

If #2 had been intended, the speaker would have said "It wouldn't have taken much", not "It wouldn't take much".

 

[Tarheel]

I’m getting a tad clear about the first part of your feedback this time despite the fact that I have no idea what the second half means. Nevertheless, the #7 also became easier for me to get the picture.

I'm not sure what that means.

It wouldn't take much - It wouldn't be hard.

I don't think I can explain it more clearly.

 

[Skrej]

Imagine I served you some cold, bland, tasteless food. Even the simple act of adding a bit of salt and heating it would be an improvement. It would not take very much effort for me to microwave it and add some salt, but it would still be an improvement. Not a very substantial improvement, but still an improvement.