Tag: Nicholls Culinary

Nicholls and LSU Health Bring Culinary Medicine Skills Into Medical Education

For future physicians preparing to enter clinical care, understanding nutrition can require more than memorizing dietary guidelines. According to this news release from Nicholls State University, 13 third-year medical students recently traded the traditional classroom for a professional kitchen, learning how nutrition recommendations translate into meals patients could realistically prepare and eat. The experience was part of the eighth annual Culinary Medicine Program, a collaboration between Nicholls and LSU Health New Orleans designed to connect medical science with practical food preparation.

The two-week culinary medicine program took place at Nicholls’ Chef John Folse Culinary Institute and was sponsored by Thibodaux Regional Health System. Culinary medicine combines evidence-based nutrition education with hands-on cooking instruction, giving future healthcare professionals an opportunity to understand not only what dietary changes may benefit patients, but also what those changes can look like in an everyday kitchen. That practical component can become especially important when physicians need to turn broad recommendations into clear, manageable guidance.

The participating LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine students completed the program shortly before beginning clinical training, when they will start caring for patients directly. Instruction was led by Chef Jana Billiot, director and instructor at the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, and Dr. Allison Gaubert, a registered dietitian nutritionist and Nicholls assistant professor of dietetics. Gaubert emphasized that simply advising patients to improve their diets may offer too little direction. Physicians can provide more useful support when they understand accessible ways patients might put nutritional recommendations into practice.

Each day connected academic instruction with kitchen experience. Students began with lessons examining how food and nutrition relate to disease prevention and health before moving into cooking labs. There, they prepared and evaluated health-conscious dishes while considering how ingredients, preparation techniques and dietary patterns could apply to patient care. The structure allowed students to move directly from discussing nutritional science to seeing how those concepts influence an actual meal.

The curriculum covered carbohydrates, fats and proteins along with eating patterns such as the Mediterranean andDASH diet, which was developed as an approach to supporting cardiovascular health. Students also explored fad diets, weight-neutral communication and nutritional genomics, an emerging field that considers relationships between nutrition and genetic variation. Additional instruction addressed dietary considerations involving heart disease, digestive health, pregnancy, lactation and dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing.

Learning culinary medicine also extended beyond the Nicholls kitchen. Students visited the Thibodaux Regional Wellness Center to observe how nutrition can fit within a broader healthcare setting, and they completed a grocery-store walk-through with a registered dietitian. That exercise brought another practical dimension to the course by connecting clinical nutrition concepts with the food choices patients encounter while shopping.

The 2026 culinary medicine program also introduced live cooking demonstrations. Medical students prepared recipes before an audience while explaining the nutritional value of the dishes and describing situations in which those foods or cooking approaches could have clinical relevance. The exercise required participants to combine culinary technique, medical knowledge and communication—skills that can become important when explaining complicated health information in understandable terms.

The culinary medicine program concluded by connecting nutrition with another factor that shapes how people eat: culture. Students prepared favorite family recipes and considered how heritage, traditions and identity influence dietary habits. Rather than treating healthy eating as a single universal menu, the activity highlighted the importance of understanding the foods that already carry meaning in patients’ lives.

The Culinary Medicine Program also reflects a broader emphasis on nutrition within medical training. In March 2026,LSU Health New Orleans announced an expansion of nutrition education for medical students, with the goal of better preparing future physicians to discuss prevention, treatment and dietary recommendations with patients. At Nicholls, the annual partnership puts that goal into practice by bringing medical education, dietetics and culinary instruction together before students enter one of the most important stages of their physician training.

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Nicholls Culinary Equips Medical Students with Tools to Heal Through Food

Nicholls State University recently welcomed a group of future physicians to its campus for a unique blend of culinary and clinical education. In partnership with the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, the Nicholls Culinary program hosted the seventh annual Culinary Medicine Program at the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute. Sponsored by Thibodaux Regional Health System, this two-week immersive program gave eight third-year LSU medical students the chance to merge hands-on culinary instruction with evidence-based nutrition science, as per this news release from Nicholls.

Under the expert guidance of Chef Jana Billiot, director and instructor at CJFCI, and Dr. Allison Gaubert, a registered dietitian nutritionist and assistant professor of dietetics, the students explored how food and health intersect in real, practical ways. As the students prepared to transition into clinical settings for the first time, the timing of this program couldn’t have been more impactful. It equipped them with tools not only to cook healthfully but to educate patients on how food can be used as a preventive and therapeutic tool.

Chef Billiot reflected on the rewarding nature of the course, observing how students gained both kitchen confidence and a deeper understanding of the connections between recipe reading, cooking techniques, and overall health. Dr. Gaubert emphasized the importance of filling a persistent gap in medical training, noting that many physicians feel underprepared to discuss nutrition with patients. This course, she explained, gives them a strong starting point while also modeling interprofessional collaboration within healthcare teams.

Each morning began with a lecture on a specific health topic, ranging from the prevention and management of disease through food to dietary strategies for specific conditions. Topics included macronutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, as well as a comparison of popular eating patterns like the DASH diet, theMediterranean diet, and more controversial fad diets. Medical students also dove into nutritional approaches tailored for cardiovascular health, gastrointestinal function, energy regulation, pregnancy, lactation, and early childhood.

Following each lecture, students moved to the kitchen to apply what they had learned. Guided by Billiot and Gaubert, they created dishes that reflected the nutritional principles of the day. Among the recipes featured were fish en papillote, strawberry balsamic sorbet, oven-fried shrimp, falafels, couscous bowls, bouillabaisse, spicy zucchini lasagna, and dark chocolate coconut lactation cookies. Once the meals were prepared, everyone gathered to eat, analyze flavor profiles, and evaluate the health merits of each dish.

Beyond the kitchen, the program also featured guest lectures and field experiences. Dr. John Doucet, Dean of theCollege of Sciences and Technology, presented on nutritional genomics—an emerging field that examines how genes and nutrition interact. Students also learned from Barbara Blake, Head of Allied Health Sciences and a licensed speech-language pathologist, about modified diets for patients with dysphagia. Registered dietitian April Sins led a grocery store tour at Rouses, and Leah Porche, another registered dietitian, delivered a session on weight-neutral health approaches, encouraging compassionate, non-stigmatizing dialogue with patients.

A highlight of the program was the evening reception where students recreated their favorite recipes for guests from Thibodaux Regional Health System. The evening served as both a culinary showcase and a demonstration of their growing ability to translate food knowledge into patient care. On the final day, students shared family recipes, emphasizing how deeply food traditions shape identity and values. They explained the cultural significance behind each dish, reinforcing the idea that effective dietary guidance must also consider personal and cultural meaning.

This annual Culinary Medicine Program continues to bridge the gap between the kitchen and the clinic. As these medical students move forward in their careers, the lessons learned at Nicholls will help them support their future patients with compassion, cultural sensitivity, and the power of food as medicine.

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