A Memoir by Charmaine Thibodeaux Dupre Charmaine Thibodeaux Dupre began her journey in cuisine and hospitality at an early age. As the eldest child in a family of eight, she started helping her mom prepare meals at home as early as age eleven. Her curiosity about foods and their nutritional value led her to study dietetics at the University of Louisiana- Lafayette and to complete her dietetic internship in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Her first job at Ochsner Medical Foundation in New Orleans gave her years of experience in the fields of dietary counseling, teaching, and catering. Her time in this vibrant food city fueled her passion for cuisine, and she took full advantage of the chance to learn from some of New Orleans' best, including Lee Barnes, Claude Aubert, and June Soniat. The years that followed brought her to cooking classes at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, to farmhouses and private homes in Tuscany, to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York and in St. Helena, California. She became a Certified Culinary Professional with the International Association of Culinary Professionals, where she came face to face with culinary giants the likes of Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Thomas Keller, Emeril Lagasse, Ina Garten, and so many more. From her kitchen in the center of the rural, Cajun prairie town of Ville Platte, Louisiana, Dupre has run the avocational cooking program, Charmaine's Country Cooking School, for over eighteen years. Her classes are often inspired by her travels, all efforts to learn more about ethnic foods at their source. In recent years, she has created and led culinary tours to Europe, Canada, Mexico, and various regions of the United States. Her passion for food continues, with a focus on getting people back to the table, where the fullest pleasures of hospitality can be found.
