School dinners exhibition in Stowmarket will celebrate history

The organisers of a new exhibition are hoping to transport people as far back as the 1940s with memories of school dinners.

The Food Museum in Stowmarket, Suffolk, will feature a tasting kitchen where visitors can sample the delights of semolina, sponge pudding and turkey twizzlers.

Now open, the exhibition will run until February 2027.

“School dinners have changed massively over time,” said curator Katherine Bridges.

“Politics and who’s in government has really changed the way we think about school food and what standards are in place.”

The new exhibition was created as a result of visitor feedback to the Food Museum and has been shaped through the stories of local school dinner staff.

Ms Bridges said: “I hope visitors will come and really have fun with a sense of nostalgia.

“There is a really serious side to this topic as well, so I hope visitors will learn something.”

In September, organisers urged people to donate objects such as lunchboxes, staff uniforms and menus to help bring the stories of school dinners to life.

Ms Bridges continued: “Starting with the 1940s with menus from Norfolk, they will be able to learn about the history of the school meals policy and poverty behind it, through to the young voices involved in school food today and the dinner staff who make school food possible.”