Curious Histories Fest: What’s for Lunch?

Curious Histories Fest returns! Join us for our third annual celebration of science, history, exploration, and experimentation. The festival is happening RAIN or SHINE!

This free, daylong event features hands-on activities and family-friendly fun, as well as exciting talks, tours, and highlights from our special collections. Come enjoy some free ice cream, then visit our museum; talk to curators and experts; take part in cooking demos, story times, and special events; and immerse yourself in curiosity!

Plus, the first 100 visitors will receive a free Lunchtime lunchbox! 

What’s for Lunch?

Curious Histories Fest highlights a new theme each year. Inspired by our current exhibition, Lunchtime: The History of Science on the School Food Tray, this year’s “What’s for Lunch?” theme explores the history of food science and efforts to feed children in U.S. schools.  

Have you ever wondered where our food comes from and where it goes? Who decides what foods are nutritious? Who will do the cooking? What are vitamins exactly? How do we feed schoolchildren nationwide? Do you love lunch? And learning? 

Join us for fun activities, craft making, engaging talks, and live demos. Then explore our museum and see special collections showcasing surprising food histories. Enjoy FREE lunch samples from around the Philly region, special guests, live music, and so much more!

Activity Highlights

• Tastes and smells with the Society of Flavor Chemists and Monell Chemical Senses Center
• Cooking demos and delicious recipe samplings with Vetri Mobile Teaching Kitchen
• Double Dutch with Philly Girls Jump and live music by Vinyl Tap 215 founder DJ DuiJi Mshinda in our “recess yard”
• Favorite school lunch memory sharing with our Distillations podcast team
• Pickle tastings with Fishtown Pickle Project
• Tap water education and tasting with the Philadelphia Water Department’s Philly Water Bar
• Introduction to sustainable composting with Bennett Compost
• Learn about Rebel Ventures, a group of student entrepreneurs based in West Philly who create healthy food for school kids
• Live pickling demonstration by Spotted Horse Provisions and tastings of their jams, shrubs, and pickled veggies
• Plant-based Peruvian food tastings with La Llamita Vegana
• Interactive pop-up displays from our special collections, from vintage coolers to Saran Wrap
• Food-themed board games
• Other school lunch-inspired food tastings including ice cream!

Curious Histories Fest is open to all ages. Admission, programs, food, and drink are all FREE. No reservations are necessary.

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.

Featured image: Detail of Super Sandwich board game box, 1973.