A Spider-Man lunch box on duty at Payne Elementary School in Washington, D.C. Kat Lonsdorf/NPR hide caption toggle caption Kat Lonsdorf/NPR NPR Ed Beyond The Pail: NPR Unpacks The History Of The Lunch Box October 31, 2016 From re-purposed lard pails to bento boxes, the way students carry lunch to school has changed almost as much as the classrooms they learn in.