Lunchbox was created by Cynthia Liu and Yukiko Nakano during their junior year of college at UNC-Chapel Hill, funded in part through the Asian Solidary and Action Project (ASAP) Grant provided by North Carolina Asian Americans Together (NCAAT). They wanted to create a photo book that centered around something that would bring the AAPI community together — food. Throughout their junior year, they traveled across North Carolina, interviewing and photographing Asian-owned food businesses. In the months after, they worked on designing the book from start to finish.

In September 2022, they had their first launch of 100 copies of Lunchbox at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill. All proceeds from this initial launch, $2,500, was donated to local and national AAPI organizations. Soon after, they partnered with various organizations such as the UNC Asian American Center, Visibility Forward, and NCAAT to print an additional 200+ copies of their book. Now, they are available on-demand through Bookbaby, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

Copies of Lunchbox can be found at local libraries (Chapel Hill Public Library, UNC Libraries, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, Durham County Library), UNC Hospital waiting rooms, SECU Family House, the Carolina Asia Center, and the NC Japan Center.

Cynthia and Yukiko are dedicated to raising awareness and building a community of Asian creatives in North Carolina. With this mission in mind, they hosted an artist showcase — Lotus — in September 2023 at the NC Botanical Garden.