Cooking Channel Spotlights Baton Rouge

A new show on the Cooking Channel features students from the Louisiana Culinary Institute. 
by Zachary Lundgren

What if your school considered the freshmen 15 a goal rather than something to avoid? At the Louisiana Culinary Institute in Baton Rouge, four incoming freshmen will have to survive and thrive in the challenging world of culinary school as the focus for the Cooking Channel’s newest show “The Freshman Class.”

Following four young chefs, “The Freshman Class” offers a unique view into the trials and tribulations of culinary school, as they balance the demands of the kitchen with their personal lives. There’s Ben, a taxidermist who seeks a better life for his family; Tiffany, a mother who had to put her own cooking dreams on hold to start a family; Jasmine, an exotic dancer who hopes to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps by owning a restaurant; and Jared, a Marine returned from Afghanistan, yet still recovering from his injuries.

Based in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana Culinary Institute (LCI) features classrooms, labs and a full-service restaurant. Charlie Ruffolo, director of public affairs with LCI, says the show provides an exciting opportunity to “showcase our students, state-of-the-art facility and our amazing staff and ACF certified chef instructors on a national level.”

Premiering Monday, June 10, at 10:30 EST on the Cooking Channel, “The Freshman Class” offers an in-depth look into the world of culinary school. With the many challenges and opportunities in store for these students, the freshman 15 will truly be the least of their concerns.

All photos courtesy of The Cooking Channel. 

An intern with Deep South, Zachary Lundgren grew up in Northern Virginia, received his MFA in poetry from the University of South Florida and his bachelor’s in English from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was nominated for the 2012 AWP Intro Journals Award and was awarded the Estelle J. Zbar Poetry Prize in 2012. Zachary is also a poetry editor for Sweet: A Literary Confection and a founding editor of Blacktop Passages.