Today we’d like to introduce you to Ronnie Williams.
Hi Ronnie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Growing up in the south, South Carolina to be exact, I loved southern food and culture. To be honest, I never really knew much else outside of that. I grew up in pretty much the same way as most southern people do, watching your mom or dad cook meals. I learned a lot from them at an early age and had a passion for cooking. I stayed at home during the summer in a very rural area so knowing how to cook was an important skill that I needed in order to be able to eat.
It wasn’t until I was in my late teens and early 20s that I experienced other ethnic foods. I found out that I really loved those as well. With that in mind, I found out I love exploring new restaurants and hole-in-the-wall places. There was a show that was on the food network that came out in the early 2000s called Dinners, Drive-ins, and Dives. I loved that show so much that It inspired me to want to show the world the places that I have discovered in my area, the places that I traveled to, and share some of my favorite recipes from the south and my state.
This idea stayed on my mind for many years. Not knowing how or what way to share this passion at the time I did not really do anything with the idea. A new sharing platform called YouTube was started around this same time but I did not know much about it then or even that I could put a video on there myself. The popularity of YouTube blew up at the same time and I found out that I could share my passions through video on that platform. I was a little late in the game starting but as the saying goes about a tree “The Best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now” It is better late than never. With that being said, in 2016 I started my YouTube Channel.
I started my YouTube channel and at the same time, I started a website to support my channel. I came up with the name Southern Food Junkie because I am southern, I love southern food, and I am a food junkie. After making many videos, I came up with the tagline “Let’s Get Food Junked.” I try to share my love of food and culture with others. I hope that my passion comes through in my blog post and videos, although that can be hard to convey sometimes. It is not that I do not love other cultures, because I genuinely do. I just love the uniqueness and the history of the mine and want to share all of the nuances of the southern culture with the world.
With all that being said, Southern Food Junkie shares about southern culture through food and restaurants that I find. I do not do as many restaurants as I once did and I mainly share those on my YouTube channel when I do. I have reserved my Food Blog, www.southernfoodjunkie.com, for recipes. The reason behind fewer restaurants is once you visit places close by you, it gets harder to have content. You have to visit places further away which means it is hard to get content on a regular basis. The other downside to that is that no one knows about these places which mean no one is searching for them. This unfortunately means fewer views and traffic for your channel or blog.
I do not have a hard and fast rule about the content that I share on my YouTube channel. I try to be me and share what I love. That can mean sharing recipes, sharing a family vacation from time to time, sharing a new food item that has come out, or a restaurant. Not everything is about southern food on there. I also love root beer and will share new ones that I find. On my blog, I used to mimic what I shared on my YouTube channel. Now I tend to stick to just recipes. Not all of them are southern recipes though. You will see a variety from time to time.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been always been a smooth road. They say that comparison is the thief of joy and that can be so true if you look at others that are in your niche etc. There are times when you get burned out from writing or making videos. I have taken breaks before which I think all content creators should do from time to time. The main this is to keep strumming along and remember why you started it in the first place.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Although being a content creator should mean that you are an artistic and creative person. I am not gifted in that. I can look at something and say wow, that is beautiful or I like that. But I have this passion to share so creating comes with part of that. That has been a struggle to get through sometimes.
I procrastinated on starting this for so long. With all that being said, I feel I have a knack for being honest and real. I am pretty straightforward without the flash. I do not try to do crazy things for views or not be myself. I try to keep things simple. Of course, I am known for sharing recipes on southern food and teaching others about it. I like to give the history of dishes and a back story about it or share how I came across it etc.
Any big plans?
My future plans are to put more effort into my blog. I recently switched to a new hosting company and plan on updating the look and feel of it in the near future by switching out the theme to a more recipe-friendly theme. I want to concentrate on being more consistent with posting videos as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://southernfoodjunkie.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/southernfoodjunk/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/southernfoodjunkie
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFoBqF3963aIWkCQWQONqzA
