Pati Jinich

Pati Jinich
Born (1972-03-30) March 30, 1972
Mexico City, Mexico
Occupation Chef, TV Personality, Cookbook Author
Years active 2007–present
Known for Pati's Mexican Table, public television series
Website patijinich.com

Patricia "Pati" Jinich (born March 30, 1972) is an award-winning Mexican chef, TV personality, cookbook author, and food writer. She is best known for her James Beard Award winning[1] and Emmy nominated public television series Pati's Mexican Table.[2] Her first cookbook, also Pati's Mexican Table, was published in March 2013[3] and her second cookbook, Mexican Today, was published in April 2016.[4]

Jinich is the resident chef at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC, where she has run her "Mexican Table" live culinary program since 2007.[5] She has appeared on The Today Show, The Chew, The Talk, CBS This Morning, The Home and Family Show, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and The Splendid Table among other media. Her food writing has appeared in The Washington Post.[6] In May 2014, Jinich was invited to cook at the White House for President Barack Obama's Cinco de Mayo dinner.[7] In May 2018, she cooked at the James Beard House in New York city for their Cinco de Mayo dinner.[8]

Early life

Jinich was born and raised in Mexico City in a Jewish Mexican family, and is the youngest of four sisters. Her grandparents were Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe.[9] Her father was an architect and a jeweler who turned restaurateur, and her mother ran an art gallery.[10]

Food was always an important part of Jinich's family life growing up. Her three older sisters pursued the culinary arts early on, but Jinich grew up dreaming of a career in academia. She earned a political science bachelor's degree from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and a master's degree in Latin-American studies from Georgetown University, and she worked as a political analyst at a Washington, DC, think tank before switching careers.[11]

She met her husband, Daniel Jinich, who is also Mexican, on a blind date.[12] They were married in Mexico City in 1996 when she was 24.

Culinary career

Jinich first began researching and cooking Mexican cuisine out of homesickness for her native Mexico City, when she moved to Dallas, Texas, with her husband.[13] Soon, she was teaching Mexican cooking to friends and neighbors. At the same time, as she was writing her bachelor's thesis, she offered to help KERA, the Dallas public TV station, with a documentary on the Mexican Revolution, but they needed help with another project: the PBS series New Tastes from Texas with Chef Stephan Pyles, for which she became a production assistant.[11]

Two years later, she relocated to Washington, DC, with her husband and their first-born son, where she resumed her academic pursuits, earning her master's degree from Georgetown and landing her "dream job"[10] at the Inter-American Dialogue, but she never stopped obsessively thinking about food[11] and enrolled at L'Academie de Cuisine in Maryland.[5]

Jinich envisioned herself writing articles about Mexican cuisine and teaching it in her home kitchen, until she met with the executive director of the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC, who encouraged her to bring her cooking program to the institute.[10] In 2007, she launched her "Mexican Table" series of live cooking demonstrations along with multi-course tasting dinners, which she still runs today.[5] The classes combine Jinich's skilled Mexican cooking with her knowledge of the country's history and regions. Each one explores a single topic—for example, dishes of the Mexican Revolution, a historical vanilla menu, or convent foods from colonial Mexico.[10]

Around the same time, she started her blog about Mexican cuisine, which was followed by invitations to write about food for print publications and to give talks and cooking demos for radio and TV shows.[14]

Jinich's charisma and intelligence caught the attention of television producers. After exploring different outlets, she decided Washington, DC's WETA-TV was the right home for Pati's Mexican Table because of her commitment to authenticity and the independence the PBS and public-TV platform allows over the content of its shows.[10]

Television

In Pati's Mexican Table, Jinich shares authentic Mexican cooking, along with Mexico's rich history and culture, her personal experiences and family life, and her ongoing conversations with cooks on both sides of the border.[15] The series airs nationally in the United States on public television stations (distributed by APT) and on Create TV.[15] It also airs on the Asian Food Channel[16] in Southeast Asia, Food Network[17] in Australia, TLN[18] in Canada, and TABI Channel[19] in Japan.

The series premiered in 2011[20] and is going on its seventh season.[21]

In 2017, Amazon added Pati's Mexican Table to its Amazon Prime Video Internet video on demand service.[22]

Cookbooks

Pati's Mexican Table: The Secrets of Real Mexican Home Cooking

Jinich's first cookbook, Pati's Mexican Table: The Secrets of Real Mexican Home Cooking, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in March 2013. The book is based on the traditional Mexican home cooking with which Jinich grew up, with many recipes gleaned from her childhood in Mexico City.[23] It made Amazon's "Best of the Year in Cookbooks" list of 2013,[24] the Washington Post's "Best Cookbooks of 2013" list,[25] The Splendid Table's "Staff Book Picks of 2013" list,[26] and Serious Eats "Our Favorite Cookbooks of 2013" list.[27]

Mexican Today: New and Rediscovered Recipes for Contemporary Kitchens

Jinich's second cookbook, Mexican Today: New and Rediscovered Recipes for Contemporary Kitchens, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in April 2016. Jinich explores both traditional and rediscovered Mexican dishes as well as reinterpretations and new takes using Mexican ingredients in this book. NPR's Maria Godoy said, "Mexican Today explores not just traditional fare but [also] the country's evolving cuisine and the many immigrant groups who have influenced it."[28]

Personal life

Jinich lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with her husband Daniel Jinich and their three sons.[12]

Awards and accolades

  • Jinich won a James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Personality/Host for Pati's Mexican Table Season 6 (2018)[1]
  • Jinich was named one of the "Top 5 Border Ambassadors" between the U.S. and Mexico by Americas Quarterly (2017)[29]
  • Jinich and Pati's Mexican Table were nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Television Program in Studio or Fixed Location (2017)[30]
  • Jinich was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Culinary Host (2016)[31]
  • Jinich and Pati's Mexican Table were nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Culinary Program (2016)[31]
  • Jinich was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Personality/Host (2016)[32]
  • Jinich and Pati's Mexican Table were nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Television Program in Studio or Fixed Location (2016)[32]
  • Jinich and Pati's Mexican Table won an Imagen Award for Best National Informational Program (2016)[33]
  • Jinich and Pati's Mexican Table won two consecutive Taste Awards for Best Ethnic Program (2016, 2015)[34][35]
  • Pati's Mexican Table was nominated for an Imagen Award for Best National Informational Program (2014)[36]
  • Pati's Mexican Table was nominated for an IACP Award for Best Culinary Series (2014)[37]
  • The cookbook Pati's Mexican Table was selected for the 2013 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards Best in the World List.[38]
  • Jinich cooked at the White House for President Obama's Cinco de Mayo Dinner (2014).[7]
  • Jinich was named to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History's Kitchen Cabinet Board for the American Food History Project (2014).[39]
  • Jinich was named to the United Nations' Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves Chefs Corps (2015)[40]

References

  1. 1 2 James Beard Foundation, "The 2018 James Beard Media Award Winners"
  2. ↑ NBC News, "Award-Winning Chef Pati Jinich Touts Mexico's Varied, Evolving Flavors"
  3. ↑ Publishers Weekly, "Pati's Mexican Table: The Secrets of Real Mexican Home Cooking"
  4. ↑ Booklist, "Mexican Today: New and Rediscovered Recipes for Contemporary Kitchens"
  5. 1 2 3 Washington DC Eater, "Cooking Mexican Breakfast with Pati Jinich"
  6. ↑ Washington Post, "Tex-Mex cooking: It's not Mexican, and maybe that's the point"
  7. 1 2 The White House, Speeches & Remarks, "Remarks by the President at Cinco de Mayo Reception"
  8. ↑ James Beard Foundation, "Cinco de Mayo Celebration"
  9. ↑ New York Times, "A Taste of Passover, With a Mexican Accent"
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Washington Post, "Pati Jinich: Made for TV"
  11. 1 2 3 Forbes, "From Political Analyst To Mexican Chef On PBS -- How Embracing What You Love Builds A Fabulous Career"
  12. 1 2 Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington, "Objects of the Month"
  13. ↑ Washington Post Express, "A Real Spice Girl"
  14. ↑ About Pati Jinich
  15. 1 2 PBS Food, "Pati's Mexican Table"
  16. ↑ Asian Food Channel, "Pati's Mexican Table"
  17. ↑ SBS Food Network, "Pati's Mexican Table"
  18. ↑ TLN, "Pati's Mexican Table"
  19. ↑ TABI Channel, "Pati's Mexican Table"
  20. ↑ The Georgetowner, "Mexico Salutes 'Pati's Mexican Table'"
  21. ↑ Edible DC, "The World of Pati Jinich"
  22. ↑ Amazon Prime Video, Pati's Mexican Table
  23. ↑ Oregonian, "Cookbook review: 'Pati's Mexican Table' by Pati Jinich"
  24. ↑ Amazon, "Best Books of 2013: Cookbooks & Food Writing"
  25. ↑ Washington Post, "Washington Post's best cookbooks of 2013"
  26. ↑ The Splendid Table, "Staff book picks 2013"
  27. ↑ Serious Eats, "Our Favorite Cookbooks of 2013"
  28. ↑ NPR The Salt, "How Mexican Cuisine Was Doing Fusion 500 Years Ago"
  29. ↑ Americas Quarterly, "5 People Who Bring Mexico and the U.S. Closer Together"
  30. ↑ James Beard Foundation, The 2017 James Beard Nominees
  31. 1 2 The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, The 43rd Annual Daytime Emmy Award Nominations
  32. 1 2 James Beard Foundation, The 2016 James Beard Award Nominees
  33. ↑ Imagen Foundation, "Winners of 31st Annual Imagen Awards Announced"
  34. ↑ The Taste Awards, 6th Annual Finalists
  35. ↑ The Taste Awards, 7th Annual Finalists and Honorees
  36. ↑ The Imagen Foundation, Nominees for the 29th Annual Imagen Awards Announced Archived 2014-06-24 at the Wayback Machine.
  37. ↑ Eater, "IACP Announces 2014 Food Writing Finalists"
  38. ↑ Gourmand International, Gourmand Awards Winners 2013 Cookbook
  39. ↑ The National Museum of American History, "National Museum of American History Convenes Kitchen Cabinet"
  40. ↑ Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, "Chef Pati Jinich Joins Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves Chef Corps"
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.