Lunchtime: The History of Science on the School Food Tray
Our new exhibition offers a novel historical perspective on efforts to feed children in U.S. schools.
On view through January 2026
Hach Gallery
Lunchtime: The History of Science on the School Food Tray explores the surprising story behind one of the most familiar rites of passage—eating a school lunch.
On view through January 2026, this exhibition offers a novel historical perspective on efforts to feed children in U.S. schools. Visitors will also learn about the unique and important Philadelphia connection in jumpstarting a national conversation around children’s access to food in the early 1900s.
Read about our opening celebration >>
School Lunch Bracket
Thanks to everyone who participated in our School Lunch Bracket! And your favorite school lunch is . . . RECTANGLE PIZZA! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X for more.
About Lunchtime
Drawing from nearly 250 years of rare scientific instruments, posters, pamphlets, photographs, and period editions of books popularizing new ideas about a “proper” diet, Lunchtime delves into the history of food science and the difficulty of feeding schoolchildren nationwide.
The exhibition also highlights innovations like dehydrated and frozen foods, preservatives, and cellophane, as well as the leading role the federal government played in the development of the school lunch.
Support
Major support for Lunchtime has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Foodology by Univar Solutions, Quaker Houghton, and Fred and Elizabeth Weber.
About The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage is a multidisciplinary grantmaker and hub for knowledge-sharing, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, dedicated to fostering a vibrant cultural community in Greater Philadelphia. The Center invests in ambitious, imaginative, and catalytic work that showcases the region’s cultural vitality and enhances public life, and engages in an exchange of ideas concerning artistic and interpretive practice with a broad network of cultural practitioners and leaders.
Featured image: Students eating lunch at Mosby Woods Elementary School in Fairfax, Virginia, 1979. Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration
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The Institute’s Hach Gallery is named in memory of Clifford C. Hach through the generosity of his wife, Kathryn C. “Kitty” Hach-Darrow (1922–2020). In the 1940s, the married chemists cofounded the Hach Chemical Company, which became a leading producer of water-testing reagents and instruments.