One time at my grandparents' house, I went shuffling through the cupboards as I always did.

On one of my many missions, I found two lunch boxes, one covered in Garbage Pell Kids stickers and

another in the shape of the blue M&M. I found out that they belonged to my dad.

He told me about how much he enjoyed collecting Garbage Pell Kid stickers and what it was like

packing a lunch in the 80s.

He even gave me the blue Eminem lunch box to keep.

My parents definitely sparked my love for packing a lunch at an early age.

I remember going to school with the flyest lunch boxes, from bento boxes to an insulated

Hello Kitty pouch. Back to school

shopping would it even be complete without my own backpack and matching lunchbox. I'd even try to

wear the cutest ones as purses. This feeling of nostalgia is about more than just food. Lunchboxes

are like treasure chests, filled with memories, swag, and of course, your favorite snacks.

Now, imagine a place where that nostalgia is being preserved.

The lunchbox museum in Columbus, Georgia, is at the center of it all.

I'm India Rice, and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous

places. Let's take a trip down south to visit the lunchbox connoisseur, who has curated a museum

of over 5,000 nostalgic lunchbox museum, I connected to the founder and curator Alan Woodall Jr.

He's 91, and he remembers his first lunchbox very well.

My brown paper bag.

So, how did a guy who started out with just a brown paper bag go from that to lunch boxes?

It all began with mcnacks.

Alan's love of collecting started at 15 years old with stamps and coins.

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