2025 Curious Histories Fest Celebrates School Lunch History with Pickle Tastings, Cooking Demos, Ice Cream, and More
Visitors explore the science of food—and fun!—at Institute’s “What’s for Lunch?” festival.
The Science History Institute welcomed more than 440 visitors to our third annual Curious Histories Fest on Saturday, June 14. Science history lovers of all ages gathered for “What’s for Lunch?,” a free, daylong celebration inspired by our Lunchtime: The History of Science on the School Food Tray exhibition.
This year’s festival included delicious tastings and live demos from Vetri Mobile Teaching Kitchen, Fishtown Pickle Project, La Llamita Vegana, Feast Your Eyes, Spotted Horse Provisions, and Philly Water Bar. In addition to checking out our new gift shop, guests also enjoyed free ice cream and pretzels; food-themed board games and scavenger hunts; and favorite school lunch memory sharing with our Distillations podcast team.
“What’s for Lunch?” also featured the Society of Flavor Chemists, Bennett Compost, Monell Chemical Senses Center, and Rebel Ventures, as well as music by DJ DuiJi Mshinda and double Dutch with Philly Girls Jump in our “recess yard.” Other activities included interactive pop-up displays from our museum and library collections exploring portable coolers, food packaging, accessible cooking tools, and historical recipe books.
Thanks to everyone—our visitors, vendors, partners, sponsors, staff members, and fellows—who made Curious Histories Fest such a huge success! Join us again in June 2026 for our fourth annual celebration of science, history, exploration, and experimentation where you can explore the history of fireworks.
Images: Science History Institute/Meredith Edlow.
Major funding for Curious Histories Fest is provided by the Bolte Family Foundation, with additional support from the American Chemical Society and Trinseo. Major support for Lunchtime has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
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Museum staff share their insights into our Lunchtime exhibition and a coconut from our collections used in early MRI imaging research.
Find Out ‘What’s for Lunch?’ at Institute’s 2025 Curious Histories Fest
Join us for a free, daylong celebration of the history of food science on Saturday, June 14, 11am–3pm.