Eau Claire (WQOW) - A local
high school graduate has made quite a splash on the internet over the last
month. Joe Luginbill, an Eau Claire North graduate, has a cooking show he posts
on YouTube. In less than a month, his shows have attracted more than one
million views.
"I didn't even know
how to use YouTube. I had my 12-year-old sister sign me up for it,"
Luginbill said.
And with that, Joe's kitchen was
built. Luginbill now has more than one million views for his cooking shows on
YouTube. His inspiration came from watching the late Julia Child's shows as a
boy.
"I started watching
them for fun after school instead of Arthur, or Dragon's Tales, or whatever
else was on, I'd watch Julia Child's. Ever since then, I've always loved to
cook just for fun, as a hobby," said Luginbill
Posting an episode in her honor on
what would have been her 100th birthday brought him extra attention. He says
the production budget has yet to change though, despite his success.
"We do it all
ourselves. I usually go out and buy the groceries beforehand. Unless if there
is wine in it, I can buy all of it. We tape it on our camcorder and I edit it
on iMovie afterwards," Luginbill said.
His popularity has led to some
interesting exchanges.
"One time in a
drive through where I work, somebody pulls up and they said "You're from
the YouTube videos!" and I said "Yes I am," (laughs) And they
said "Oh I like your shows can you come cook for me sometime," said
Luginbill
Joe will be trading his
food for the dorms and cafeteria food at UW-Stout this fall. He was considering
a business administration major but now says he's considering other options.
"I'm thinking of
maybe changing that to food communication, which is part of their food systems
and technology program. If I could make a career out of eating good food,
cooking good food, making people laugh, that's not half bad," Luginbill
said.
Joe said he is not sure how many
opportunities he will have to cook living in the dorms, but he has accepted the
fact he might be forced to eat Ramen noodles once or twice.
