“I grew up with the ‘Today’ show,” says Deb Freeman. “I have really tangible memories of it being on in the background before I went to school — it’s been in our home for years.”
And now Freeman, an award-winning writer, podcast host and creator and, most recently, executive producer and host of PBS Emmy-nominated documentary “Finding Edna Lewis,” will be in homes across the nation on Juneteenth (Thursday, June 19).
Freeman says she was approached by NBC’s “Today” show culinary producer Krissy Downey at a Brooklyn screening of the Lewis documentary.
“Downey said, ‘I think this would be a cool story.’ She pitched really hard for it, which I’m so grateful for,” says Freeman. Once they got the green light, Freeman says it was two weeks until taping, which just happened this Monday, June 9.
Freeman says the pre-recorded segment highlighting “Finding Edna Lewis” is set to air in the coveted 8 a.m. hour, “somewhere around the 8:30 a.m. mark.”
Viewers will see Freeman in conversation with journalist Laura Jarrett, Gage & Tollner chef and partner Sohui Kim and Edna Lewis’ niece, Nina Williams-Mbengue, at famed New York City restaurant Gage & Tollner.
For those who haven’t yet seen “Finding Edna Lewis” (available now on PBS), Lewis served as executive chef at Brooklyn’s historic, and highly lauded, Gage & Tollner in 1988 when she was 72 years old. This was just one of the iconic Southern chef’s career feats; she also put Southern food, and more importantly perhaps, Virginia food, on the map.
“I wanted folks from Virginia to see [the documentary] for sure,” says Freeman. “The number of people who tell me, ‘I’m from Virginia and I can’t believe I’ve never heard of her,’ is staggering to me. But, I was one of those people, too, up until a few years ago.”
Those years of not knowing Lewis are long forgotten, though. Freeman has fully immersed herself in the life, lore and legacy of the grand dame of Southern cooking. [Editor’s note: Apart from the documentary, Freeman also previously worked as Style Weekly’s food editor where she wrote about Lewis.]
Freeman and Richmond’s documentary production company Field Studio started working on “Finding Edna Lewis” in early 2024, releasing eight mini episodes before premiering the full film in February 2025.
“I had hoped [the doc] would be this big,” says Freeman. “But this is definitely on a bigger scale than I thought it would be when we were filming a year ago.”
Since the premiere, Freeman has been on a whirlwind screening tour. When we chat, she’s in Philadelphia. A day before she was in Chicago. She’ll come back to her Virginia home for a couple of days before jetting to California.
“It’s the most flying I’ve ever done in my life,” she laughs, though for her it’s worth it to bring the too long overlooked story of Miss Lewis to life.
In the “Today” show segment, Freeman says they discuss Emancipation Day and Lewis and how that ties into Juneteenth. “It’s cool because there’s a portion where you see chef Kim bring out all of these [Gage & Tollner] dishes and it’s insane how much food represented Edna Lewis,” says Freeman.
A Gage & Tollner diner today can order Lewis’ rolls and she-crab soup. They’ll bring back other beloved Lewis dishes on occasion, too.
“A lot of the dishes on the menu today are influenced by her,” says Freeman.
Watch Deb Freeman on NBC’s “Today” show this Thursday, June 19 during the morning show’s 8 a.m. hour.
