These Kentucky Teachers’ Lunches Are Big on FoodTok

Until recently, the most notable person connected to Johnson Central High School in Paintsville, Kentucky was probably Chris Stapleton, the 10-time Grammy winner whose songs “Starting Over” and “You Should Probably Leave” have become modern country classics. But that was before the JCHS Lunch Bunch was formed, and a group of Johnson Central’s teachers became honest-to-goodness TikTok sensations. 

According to the Washington Post, the 12 faculty and staff members who make up the “Lunch Bunch” were just a group of coworkers who unpacked their lunch boxes, opened their bags of chips, and cracked open their sodas together every day. So far, so normal. But last September, biology teacher Nicki Caudill had the idea to ask everyone what they were having for lunch — and she recorded their answers and shared them on TikTok. 

Now dozens of videos later, they have over 30,000 followers on the platform, and they have accumulated over 770,000 likes. (To put that number of likes in context, Louisville — Kentucky’s largest city — has a population of around 625,000 people.) 

According to the Post, the teachers have become local, if not regional, celebrities and are regularly recognized when they go out to eat or watch football games at the University of Kentucky. They also get fan mail, which probably isn’t something that a lot of high school teachers can say. 

When asked what’s behind the account’s popularity, Amiee Webb, an English teacher at Johnson Central, told the Post “I think it’s because we’re nuts.” More likely, it’s because their videos are so wholesome. Also, since the videos usually clock in at between eight and 10 minutes long, if you watch them on your own lunch break, it starts to feel like you’re eating with friends (even if you’re also having an “emergency can of soup” because you didn’t pack anything for the day.)  

Although school is out for the summer, the Lunch Bunchers are still sharing their daily meals from wherever they happen to be at lunchtime. In the most recent TikTok, posted on Wednesday, math teacher Missy Willis showed off her bologna sandwich and homemade potato salad while sitting in a boat on a Tennessee lake; Webb pointed out her New York strip and whipped potatoes at a restaurant in Hilton Head, South Carolina; and biology teacher Milli Conley said that her “pregnancy cravings” led her to have an “Oklahoma Outlaw Burger” and a side of onion rings. 

When school is back in session, Caudill will, once again, film her friends as they eat, and she’ll also be asking what has become her trademark question “What’s for to drink?” Caudill told the Post that she started asking the weirdly phrased question as a joke after seeing it on another TikTok account, but then she couldn’t stop. 

If the videos continue, this will be the second academic year that we’ve all shared with the JCHS Lunch Bunch and, we can’t believe we’re saying this, but we really can’t wait for school to start again.