Viral TikTok from ‘The Lunch Lady’ shows all the hard work and care happening in the cafeteria
Let’s hear it for the lunch ladies! Lunch ladies are the backbone of schools, and Ms. Patsy Ramsey, a proud grandma and lunch lady in Kentucky, is showing everyone some behind-the-scenes looks at how these magnificent people are really working hard and holding down the fort when it comes to making enough healthy and delicious school lunches for hundreds of kids.
You’ll be transported through time when you see all the food she posts. They have spaghetti day of course, green beans, chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese, tater tots, and of course, my favorite, the square pizza, and boy does it look delicious. Though my lunch ladies always served it with mashed potatoes for some reason?
This TikTok account is important, because lunch ladies always get portrayed in a bad light in TV shows and movies, but they truly are heroes and some of the hardest working people you’ll ever meet. One commenter shared, “I’m sorry but I loved my lunch ladies when I was in school. It was like having a dozen moms looking after you. Most of them were moms.. Love em!!”
As you can see in the video of Ms. Ramsey with the rest of her lunch lady crew making spaghetti, they have to season and cook ungodly amounts of ground meat, and you can see them gently massaging the seasonings throughout. They cook buckets full of spaghetti noodles and of course open giant cans of tomato sauce for homemade marinara. And the green beans look so good, with their giant pats of butter on top before they cook them. And don’t forget the side salad complete with freshly cut tomatoes and lettuce, and an array of options for milk, including almond milk.
The video begins with the caption “Working hard to feed kids,” and the song “Beast Mode” plays as they show the steps in preparing lunch for hundreds of kids. Beast Mode, indeed, Ms. Ramsey.
“No wonder my child raves about school food. That’s where he’s most willing to try something new as well. Good job ladies!” a fan said.
And excuse me, but Ms. Ramsey and the other ladies are also serving up grab-and-go charcuterie? I wish my son went there, or perhaps they could cater lunch for me as I work from home in Atlanta.
But seriously, lunch ladies are the best and are truly heroes. “As a kid who only ate when at school, thank you and all lunch people for all you do,” one former public school kid said in the comments.
“When I was younger the lunch ladies would give me extra with no charge..think they knew we were poorer and without at home,” another fan of lunch ladies shared.
Apparently, Ms. Ramsey and her crew’s food is not the norm, as many people said in the comments that most of their food is prepackaged, frozen, and never fresh. Boy, would Gordon Ramsey be disgusted. “It’s not the lunch lady’s fault,” one person said, however. “They’re just doing what they’re told and using what they’re given.”
Some viewers did have fond memories of the lunchroom from grade school, and many mentioned their faves from when they were kids. “Always loved my lunch ladies at school. Bosco stick day and stuffed crust pizza were the bomb,” one person said.
For me, it was the square pizza, as mentioned, and Crispitos—though both were served with mashed potatoes for some reason. They were good mashed potatoes, at least. Thank you, lunch ladies.
