Cooking | Michelle Brown | All Levels | All-Day Class | Week 1 (July 6-10, 2026)
Explore the rich and diverse cuisine of Louisiana with lifelong Cajun cook Michelle Brown. Students will learn to prepare traditional Cajun meals each day, including étouffée, maque choux, gumbo and a traditional South Louisiana Thanksgiving meal complete with fried turkey. The class will enjoy an immersive cultural experience with lots of cooking…and coffee!
About the Instructor
Michelle Brown was born and raised on a farm in rural South Louisiana, where she learned Cajun cooking at an early age by watching her mother prepare three meals a day. As the daughter of Daniel “D.I.” Fruge, founder of D.I.’s Cajun Restaurant, Michelle grew up immersed in the flavors, traditions, and hospitality that define Cajun culture—where good food brings people together and conversations about the next meal begin before the current one ends.
A talented cook and baker, Michelle shares her culinary gifts with the community, including pastries served at a coffee shop in downtown Eunice. She is also a retired school bus operator with 25 years of service to the rural schools of Acadia Parish.
Beyond the kitchen, Michelle is an accomplished seamstress whose passion began at age nine. She proudly crafted her daughters’ wedding gowns and now enjoys quilting and old-fashioned tatting. Michelle and her husband Greg have three children and seven grandchildren. Their two youngest, Megan Brown Constantin and Briggs Brown, are active in Cajun music and cultural preservation, continuing the family’s commitment to keeping Louisiana’s heritage vibrant.
