A Wichita chef will appear on NBC’s ‘Today’ to show how Kansas does Thanksgiving
A Wichita chef will spend the days leading up to Thanksgiving in New York City preparing to appear on NBC’s morning show “Today.”
Natasha Gandhi-Rue, the owner of The Kitchen at 725 E. Douglas, was recently contacted by producers of the show, which is putting together a live segment for Wednesday morning called “The United Plates of America.” The show reached out to chefs from every state and invited them to come on and present a Thanksgiving dish that represented their state.
Gandhi-Rue thought through her options and decided to show off a dish that features cranberries.
“I think that there are a lot of people who avoid cranberries because what they think about is cranberry sauce,” she said. “I thought, ‘Let’s present cranberries in a different way that’s enticing.”
She’s not allowed yet to disclose the exact dish she’ll be presenting, and she’s not sure exactly what time she’ll appear — or how long she’ll be on camera. “Today” starts at 7 a.m. on NBC, Channel 3.
Producers told her they would also post each chef’s recipe and bio on the show’s website, Today.com.
Gandhi-Rue said producers told her to wear a plain white shirt and that they’d give her an apron to wear. She has to bring two completed servings of the dish ready to go, and she plans to use the kitchen of a relative who lives in New York City. She’ll fly there on Monday morning and will return late on Wednesday.
She said she thinks the show found her by doing Internet research and discovering the articles and online posts she authored about Thanksgiving back when she worked as the national culinary manager for Williams Sonoma.
Thanksgiving has always been her favorite food holiday, Gandhi-Rue said.
“This is a fun thing to do, and truly and honestly I love Thanksgiving,” she said. “It’s not a stressful holiday for me. I’ve probably cooked 300 turkeys in my life.”
The appearance, she hopes, will also provide good publicity for her restaurant, which is about to celebrate its third birthday. She plans to celebrate on Nov. 30, which is also Small Business Saturday, and will be offering $3 appetizers and drinks to mark the occasion.
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 11:19 AM.
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