As teachers trainees, the authors were frustrated trying to create a lesson on the British Empire. But this challenge seems to be magnified ten-fold when teaching the history of Britain's empire: a complex political, cultural, social and economic phenomenon that has a broad chronological and geographical scope. And yet, despite the seemingly endless opportunities offered by such a broad and multifaceted topic, when given the opportunity, they found ourselves resorting to the more conventional and safe option: the consequences of British imperialism. Coincidentally, that same week they visited a local museum. They had been set the task of finding an object in the museum to generate an enquiry. Having been given the flexibility and freedom to use the museum as inspiration for a historical topic of their choosing, their shared love of material culture meant that they were already excited about the potential such an enquiry afforded. Bringing material culture into the classroom was something they were passionate about from the very beginning of their training year: they desperately wanted to incorporate their own degree specialisms and research interests into their teaching. After searching throughout the museum, they came across a 19th century spice box. This article is about how they designed a lesson on the British Empire using the spice box.