Foodie fave Zimmern in town this month

MSN’s Appetite for Life with Andrew Zimmern will be in downtown Baton Rouge on Wednesday, Jan. 25, to film show segments in front of a live audience. Included on the short list of possible sites are the recently completed North Boulevard Town Square and the lawn of the Louisiana State Museum, which affords a background shot of the State Capitol. “It’s going to be a two-hour window that they’ll be filming, and we’re hoping to have a big crowd on hand,” Overby says, adding that the show’s producers describe Zimmern as “typically very gracious with crowds and people who come out, so it should be a lot of fun.” Overby says Visit Baton Rouge is also hoping to incorporate the city’s food trucks in the filming and have them on-site to attract a larger-than-usual lunch crowd. “They’re even talking about doing some kind of food truck challenge as part of it,” she says. “We’ve put it out on Twitter, and people seem really excited about it.” A jambalaya cook-off is also planned, Overby says, with proceeds benefiting the Capital Area United Way. Full details on filming locations, associated events and airtimes will be released soon. You can keep up-to-date with the latest by following the Visit Baton Rouge Twitter feed here, and learn more about Appetite for Life at the show’s website here. —Steve Sanoski