Our Work

From lesson plans to community events, the Museum of Food and Culture offers a variety of programs customized to fit your school community, whether your goal is increased student engagement, hands-on experiential learning, or activating your alumni network. Start the conversation here!

See what's possible with the right program at your school!

Jump to: Curriculum Support | Professional Development & Team-Building | Community Events & Programming

Curriculum Support

Global Languages

Food History & Culture of Latin America

A ready-to-use lesson plan and facilitation guide designed to support third grade teachers in bringing global food cultures into the classroom. Using storytelling, visuals, interactive elements, this custom lesson highlighted how staple foods tell the story of the land, history, and identity. Dishes featured: empanadas, churrasco, and plantains.

Special Event

Ethics Day: Prison Labor in the Food System

What is on your plate? This interactive session engaged middle school students to consider the ethics of consumption. Starting with a multimedia perspective on prison labor in the food system, students learned about the history of mass incarceration in the United States. Students discussed and debated personal and societal ethics.

Service Learning

The Lunchbox Project

Building on the 7th grade focus on community and identity, this program invited students to explore food as a tool for storytelling. Students analyzed the importance of food in Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri, explored their own identity with food through creative writing and art, and amplified the voices of refugees to a wider audience through service learning.

Global Languages

Student Exhibit: Food Justice in Latin America

A research unit designed for advanced composition and conversation in Spanish. In small groups, senior high school students examined the political, societal and environmental impacts of cash crops in Latin America. Students learned to compile their findings into a compelling multimedia story and shared with Spanish I and II classes.

Social Studies

Desserts Research Project

What do we eat to celebrate? Students from Colorado State University's undergraduate hospitality program did sociological research on five desserts from around the globe (can you guess what they are?). From colonialism to agriculture, students learned how desserts share the stories of history, culture, and identity.

History

Colorado State University:
Grains Research Project

The foundation of civilization. Undergraduate college students explored the history, culture, and science of grains and grain cultivation. Students researched how and why grains have become staples of the human diet, and how they continue to shape society today.

Cultural Studies

Colorado State University:
Street Eats Research Project

What we eat (or don't eat) says a lot about who we are. Undergraduate hospitality students researched the social significance of convenience foods - from street food to gas stations - across the globe. Read more about the program here.

Science

Denver Urban Gardens:
Pre-K Produce Curriculum

Community gardens as the classroom. Support teachers use the garden and food to teach key concepts in STEM to preschool students.

Download the materials and lesson guides for FREE!

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"I loved our conversation, I felt it was educational and highly thought-provoking. Now I want to learn even more about the criminal justice system."

Middle School Student

Professional Development & Team-Building

Team-Building

Inclusive Ingredients: How to Stir Up Curriculum

An interactive team-building and professional development session. This session highlighted cross-cultural new year celebrations through hands-on cooking activities, reflection prompts, and educational materials designed to support faculty and staff to incorporate diversity and equity into their work.

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Professional Development

Every Culture has a Dumpling (SBPS)

An experiential demonstration of how food can be a starting point for cross-cultural conversations about heritage, belonging, equity, and preference in the classroom. K-8 educators practiced activities and questions to spark student research, storytelling, and discovery.

Professional Development

Food Education Fellowship: Student-Led Choices

In partnership with Pilot Light's Food Education Fellowship and Feeding Futures, the Museum of Food and Culture participated in a panel about how educators can support students to advocate for changes in the food systems they belong to, including local, national, and global.

Professional Development

Exploring the World with Food in the Classroom

This training helped educators at New York Association of Independent Schools craft hands-on and engaging curriculum using food. Attendees discovered how to address common concerns when using food in the classroom, encourage student-led research and storytelling, and engage local organizations and community members.

Team-Building

Mindfulness and Celebrating Cultural Heritage

With a focus on mindfulness, wellness, and self-care, this collaborative cooking workshop encouraged faculty and staff to consider the role of food in their own identity and culture while forging meaningful connections with one another.

Ani S., Partner

"Nothing but positive feedback from folks as they left and I was overfilled with gratitude by the end of the evening. Thank you!"

Maud S., Partner

"An excellent community builder and a terrific exercise in being present in the moment. MFC provided a wonderful communal experience."

Nick L., Participant

"Beautiful job of organizing and creating this experience. It was so fun to relax and laugh together. And it was great to try the different foods. Thank you! This was the most fun I had all semester!"

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Community Events & Programming

Cultural Heritage Months & Holidays

Cooking through Cultural Heritage

Our flagship monthly K-12 newsletter program that uses food to explore culture, history, and community across a school. Each edition includes context, activities, and guidance designed for educators, students, and families. Schools choose how they engage, but approaches have included school-wide communications, partnerships with dining services, and activities in the classroom.

Holiday Event

Holiday Alumni Gathering

An annual festive event bringing alumni back to campus with their families to learn about and make holiday foods -- from gingerbread houses to pomanders. Parents and kiddos also crafted colorful dreidels and practiced their spinning technique to win piles of gelt!

Cultural Festival

Recipe Illustration Workshop at Cultural Fest

How do recipes tell the story of us? At one school's annual cultural festival, we invited participants to deepen their experience of the global feast by creatively interpreting each recipe.

Pop-up Exhibit - Custom

Cooking for a Cause

Custom exhibit exploring the power of food and community in creating social change. From coffee shops to cookbooks — and even the school's own founding — food has long been a powerful way to spark social movements and create a more compassionate world. School community members gathered to uncover the extraordinary impact of ordinary people.

Pop-up Exhibit - Custom

Stirring the Pot: Women's Rights & Agency in the Kitchen

Throughout history, kitchens have been pivotal spaces for women to assert agency and wield power. This exhibit grappled with women’s evolving relationship with food and domestic work. From navigating the hardships of the Great Depression to advocating for health and homesteading after the COVID-19 pandemic, we celebrated the remarkable stories of women's resilience and empowerment in the kitchen for Women's History Month.

Pop-up Exhibit

Cocktails & Civil Rights Happy Hour

An interactive happy hour exhibit investigating the role of food in community organizing, particularly for historically marginalized groups. Faculty and staff explored about pivotal community spaces in American history - from the Stonewall Inn to rent parties during the Harlem Renaissance - culminating in tasty bite of history.

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Let's explore what fits your school

Whether you’re considering curriculum support, professional development, team-building, or community events and programming, we're here to support you.

Start the conversation

No pressure to commit. We'll help you think it through.

Our Work

See what's possible with the right program at your school!​

Curriculum Support

Food History & Culture of Latin America

Ethics Day: Prison Labor in the Food System

The Lunchbox Project

Student Exhibit: Food Justice in Latin America

Desserts Research Project

Colorado State University: Grains Research Project

Colorado State University: Street Eats Research Project

Denver Urban Gardens: Pre-K Produce Curriculum

Professional Development & Team-Building

Inclusive Ingredients: How to Stir Up Curriculum

Every Culture has a Dumpling (SBPS)

Food Education Fellowship: Student-Led Choices

Exploring the World with Food in the Classroom

Mindfulness and Celebrating Cultural Heritage

Community Events & Programming

Cooking through Cultural Heritage

Holiday Alumni Gathering

Recipe Illustration Workshop at Cultural Fest

Cooking for a Cause

Stirring the Pot: Women's Rights & Agency in the Kitchen

Cocktails & Civil Rights Happy Hour

See what's possible with the right program at your school!

Colorado State University:
Grains Research Project

Colorado State University:
Street Eats Research Project

Denver Urban Gardens:
Pre-K Produce Curriculum