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N.D. (NewsDakota.com) The number 1 culinary demonstration in the country will be at the Reiland Fine Arts Center Thursday, May 30 on the Jamestown College campus.

The Taste of Home Cooking school will feature recipes, new food products, kitchen shortcuts, cookbooks, local vendors, door prizes, samples and money saving coupons.

Meet Taste of Home Culinary Specialist Eric Villegas. He said, “I thoroughly enjoy meeting so many enthusiastic fans of Taste of Home. They inspire me with their love and cooking and support for our program,” He added, “I also enjoy the camaraderie that is built working with the local volunteers in putting together the big show.”

Villegas gained a love for cooking as a child cooking with his parents, making use of the local ingredients of upper Michigan, and learning some of the less common tricks from his grandmother’s Bolivian cuisine. He later studied liberal arts at Michigan State University, then moved to France, where he attended Anne Willan’s LaVarenne Ecole de Cuisine and Steven Spurrier’s Academie du Vin.

After two years abroad, Eric returned to the States and continued his studies at the New England Culinary Institute. During his career, Eric opened two restaurants, wrote two cookbooks and earned two regional EMMY awards for his popular television show, “Fork in the Road with Eric Villegas.” But despite his extensive culinary pedigree, Eric still has a soft spot for simple fried chicken and potato chips.

Tickets for the Taste of Home Cooking School are available for $7 at Lifestyle Appliance Center or Hugos Family Marketplace in Jamestown.