The film crew for Emeril Lagasse’s Emeril Cooks wasn’t sure what to expect as they walked out into the Okra Man’s field at 7 a.m. on Thursday in New Iberia.

The crew consisted of three people, producer Tommy Nguyen, camera operator Jeremy Blum and drone operator Joseph Estrade. Months earlier, they filmed Jacob Willis and his crew sowing their field. Thursday, returned and the stalks of okra are at their peak, and the ground is thick and muddy. 

Over the course of a few hours, they filmed several scenes of different people picking, including Willis’ 13-year-old grandson, Dylan. They also filmed a segment on Tammy Shannon’s Okra Juice.

It had rained the previous night, and the humid air was cooler than it had been in previous days. Hitching a ride in the back of truck into the field, Blum commented on the unexpected beauty of the morning at Gonsoulin Ranch.

“It’s not usually this nice in the morning,” said Blum, a New Orleans native. “I don’t know about ya’ll, but it’s been so dry in New Orleans.” 

Walking deeper and deeper into the field, they discovered why most helpers go barefoot as they trekked into the field and their steps slowed as the mud caked onto their shoes. Even though the crew filmed on a non-pick day, the field was still heavy with okra, and Willis’s crew worked hard to clear the field for the day.

After getting their fill of scenes, the crew packed back into the trucks, and made their way back to the processing station where they filmed a segment with actual customers buying okra, and interesting segment on Tammy Shannon’s Okra Juice.

In the meantime, Estrade used his drone to capture several long aerial shots of the field and the people hard at work in it.

Their next stop would be a fig orchard in Opelousas currently facing difficulties in this early, prolonged heatwave.

Neither episodes have a definitive release date, but Gonsoulin’s episode should air sometime this fall on television. You can catch both episodes of “Emeril Cooks” on The Roku Channel. You can find the Emeril Lagasse Foundation online at Emeril.org.

As a national TV personality, Emeril Lagasse has hosted more than 2,000 shows on the Food Network, and is the food correspondent for ABC’s “Good Morning America.”