Due to exhibition construction, the museum is temporarily closed.
Our First Friday event has been rescheduled to March 13.

Join our museum’s Gallery Guides for a “drop-in” tour of Lunchtime, our special exhibition on the history and development of school lunch.

Learn about the complicated relationship between food scientists, the government, and the public throughout the last 200 years as ideas about nutrition and education have evolved.

Does school lunch affect student performance? How did innovations in agricultural science lead to the national school lunch program? What challenges do school lunch advocates face today? And why do we have guinea pigs to thank for our understanding of basic nutrition? We will answer all these questions and more!

This tour has an interactive component, too! You’ll have the chance to touch specially chosen artifacts from our handling collection, examine them in detail, and draw connections between your own experiences of school lunch and this fascinating facet of food history.


Drop-in tours are free and no reservations are necessary.

Featured image: Detail of “Metalam Makes Your Meal Complete,” advertisement for Dow Chemical Company, 1963.

More events

illustrated note about a frog
March 9, 2026
Science on Tap

What Frogs and Octopuses Know (That ChatGPT Doesn’t)

Won Jeon shows how AI produces convincing language while lacking the situational awareness that powers the communication of living organisms.

Museum educator Laura Prewitt speaks out the nylon exhibit with a man who using a white cane.
March 10, 2026
Museum Programs & Activities

From Nature to Nylons: A Touch-Based History of Textiles

This touch-based tour offers guests a private learning experience that combines a personally guided exploration of select gallery exhibits and a hands-on study of objects from our collections.

Research fellow Eva Hemmungs Wirtén.
March 11, 2026
Free

Othmer Library Tour

Curious about the other half of the Science History Institute? Step into the Othmer Library of Chemical History!

    Republish

    Copy the above HTML to republish this content. We have formatted the material to follow our guidelines, which include our credit requirements. Please review our full list of guidelines for more information. By republishing this content, you agree to our republication requirements.