If someone in the Freitag family wants to know about the history of the British Empire in South Asia, they go to Jason Freitag, an associate professor in Ithaca College’s Department of History. If they want someone to cook a gourmet Thanksgiving dinner? That’d be Jason’s sister Amanda Freitag, a celebrity chef who frequently appears on the Food network’s hit show, “Chopped.” Jason joined his sister for a special family Thanksgiving episode of the cooking competition on Tuesday, Nov. 13, to vie against three other judge-competitors and their siblings.
Tasked with creating delicious dishes out of ingredients like popcorn, cinnamon rolls and boniato sweet potatoes, Jason performed dutifully as Amanda’s sous chef, ultimately winning the contest. For their efforts, the Freitags won $10,000 for God’s Love We Deliver, a charity that cooks and delivers nutritionally tailored meals to people in the New York City area who are living with severe illnesses.
“That was an amazing experience that certainly pushed the envelope for me,” Jason said. “I was thrilled to be able to do this with my sister, and we are both so happy to support a great charity that will help a lot of people.”
Their victory is sure to be a topic of conversation at the Freitag family Thanksgiving.