Macon Magazine

7 2 M ACO N M AG A Z I N E.CO M | O C TO B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 9 e accidental YouTube chef MERCER PROFESSOR ADAM RAGUSEA TURNS A VIRAL MOMENT INTO A NEW CAREER BY TRACI BURNS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JESSICA WHITLEY "M Y NEIGHBORS might be suspicious of a Yankee in their midst making biscuits, but I figure if I use White Lily I'll be okay," says Adam Ragusea, smiling. He's testing a recipe for his YouTube cooking channel, measuring the South's best-loved flour to toss with delicate curls of chilled butter. e bright 200-square- foot kitchen of his bungalow home in the Historic Vineville neighborhood doubles as the location for many of his videos, which over the past year have amassed an incredible 30 million views and drawn nearly 400,000 subscribers – enough that he's making the leap from Mercer University journalism professor to full- time YouTuber. Ragusea's fans have formed a (mostly) positive, congenial community in the always-active comment sections of his videos. ey bond over inside jokes and a shared sense of humor. One fan describes Ragusea as "if Keanu Reeves and Alton Brown had a kid." ey share an appreciation for the videos' straightforward, confident style, compliment Ragusea on his rapidly growing videographer skills and admire his soothing voice. Mainly, they're captivated by the talented way he guides home cooks through the steps of preparing something simple yet delicious, like lasagna or a roast chicken dinner, making nurturing via nourishment more accessible to all. Ragusea, who is married to writer Lauren Morrill and has two young sons, is originally from Pennsylvania but has been in Macon since 2012, working as bureau chief for Georgia Public Broadcasting for two years before moving to Mercer's Center for Collaborative Journalism, where he teaches journalism and media production classes. "Mercer is very much about multimedia facility and competency, so I had to teach video," says Ragusea. "e whole reason I made my first three cooking videos was to practice; I knew I'd be more likely to actually do it if I gave myself an assignment I knew I'd enjoy." In December 2018, Ragusea uploaded one of those videos, "Making New York- style pizza at home," to YouTube. In it, he outlines his quest to re-create the perfect

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