TODAY to Launch 'Fresh Cooks Live' Multi-Platform Series, 3/24

Beginning Monday, March 24, NBC's TODAY presents an interactive cooking experience with the launch of 'Fresh Cooks Live: TODAY's Spring Cookalong'-a week-long, multi-platform series showcasing talented, self-made cooks who are heating up the Internet. For the first time on TODAY, full cooking demos will air live on television with Picture-in-Picture (PIP) and stream simultaneously on TODAY.com, allowing the audience at home to cook along in real-time.

In response to TODAY show viewers' requests for longer cooking segments, 'Fresh Cooks Live: TODAY's Spring Cookalong' offers a new and unique approach for food enthusiasts. Carson Daly will host the series, which revamps traditional cooking demos with an innovative cross-platform format, spanning the TODAY show, TODAY.com, and social media.

On Monday, the TODAY plaza will transform into a farmers market for a classic Italian cooking demo with Laura Vitale, host of the interactive cooking show 'Laura in The Kitchen (http://www.laurainthekitchen.com/).' Other featured cooks include:

· British 'SORTED Crew' Ben Ebbrell, Barry Taylor and Jamie Spafford, founders of SORTED Food (http://sortedfood.com/#!/)
· Brandi Milloy, host of POPSUGAR (http://www.popsugar.com/author/brandi-milloy)
· Lorraine Pascale, author of 'A Lighter Way to Bake (http://www.lorrainepascale.com/)'
· Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine, filmmakers of 'The Perennial Plate (http://www.theperennialplate.com/)'
· Krista Simmons, food editor at LAist.com
· Stacey Little, founder of SouthernBite.com and author of 'The Southern Bite Cookbook'

All week long, TODAY invites viewers to participate and join the conversation by sharing cooking photos and questions on social media using #FreshCooksLive, on Facebook.com/TODAY, and Facebook.com/TODAYFood (https://www.facebook.com/todayfood). Carson Daly will take live questions from the Orange Room and Twitter, and submitted photos may be featured throughout TODAY's coverage. Viewers are encouraged to prepare for the series' demos and can find each cook's recipe, along with full cooking segments, at TODAY.com/Food (http://www.today.com/food/join-7-fresh-cooks-todays-spring-cookalong-2D79405922).

Don Nash is the EP of TODAY (Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. - 11 a.m.).

Photo courtesy Laura Vitale

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