Cocinando con pati
Cocinando con pati
For many cultures, food plays an imperative role within the community — oftentimes serving as a commonality that brings a sense of closeness and centeredness to people. The same is certainly true when it comes to Mexican culture and cuisine as Mexican chef, TV personality, author, educator, and host of the Emmy-nominated ‘Pati's Mexican Table,’ Pati Jinich, recently shared with SheKnows. “I have such fond memories of my grandfather coming over for brunch and making chilaquiles,” Jinich remembers. “And on Fridays, my family would get together to make egg challah for Shabbat. Food has always been central in my family, in my culture.”
Although food played a pivotal role in Jinich's childhood, she initially chose to pursue a career in politics; studying political science and earning a Master's degree in Latin American Studies at Georgetown and even working as a political analyst before trading in her policy papers for recipes. "I wanted to be an academic growing up," she recalls, "but increasingly, the way that I felt the most comfortable explaining things and connecting to people and connecting to my evolving self as an immigrant Mexican, who then started growing deep roots in the United States, with a Mexican-American family, but with a Jewish background, was through the kitchen."
Top, Pant, Shawl and Necklace: Caralarga | Shoes: Anthropologie | Earrings and Bracelet: Nakawé Trading
F
Born and raised in Mexico, Jinich became aware at an early age of how important food is to a community. "Food is the vehicle for getting together, the vehicle for sharing our culture and our traditions, the vehicle that allows us to connect with different communities in our diverse country inside and outside of Mexico," she says.
In the U.S., preparing and eating meals is often a rushed process. Our lives so frequently center around work and activities that food can quickly become more of an afterthought, or just another task to check off our never-ending to-do lists. We are very much an on-the-go society and we often overlook the absence of connection that occurs when we stop seeing food as a vehicle for connecting to our families and our communities. Mexicans, Jinich maintains, have managed to hold onto the sacredness of food and it is the center of so many different aspects of Mexican culture. "There is so much food in Mexican culture that is communal," she says. "People get together to make tamales, people get together to make mole, people get together for Sunday brunch, so food is really tied to every possible routine and task. Whether it is a birthday or a holiday, there's nothing we celebrate without food, nothing."
Jinich adds that food is even the center of many political or government events and serves as a symbol of togetherness within a community. "Food is stacked with symbolism and meaning," Jinich says. "By sharing our food, we're really giving all of ourselves, who we are, our culture, our good and bad times, our meaning for family relationships, or for spirituality. I think it also connects not only Mexicans but Latinos, Latinos inside of the U.S. and in their home countries as well."
Beyond that, food has always been a way of expressing love and emotion without words: “When someone is sick, you make sopa de pollo. When it was time to celebrate, it was pozole rojo," Jinich says. "It was always the way we showed we cared and the more we worked on something, you just showed how much you cared."
“Food is the vehicle for getting together, the vehicle for sharing our culture and our traditions, the vehicle that allows us to connect with different communities in our diverse country inside and outside of Mexico.”
pati jinich
“Food is our anchor. It is how our family shares our love with each other, shows we care, and it's our favorite way to spend time together.”
pati jinich
Credits
Photography by George Chinsee
Creative Direction By Danielle Giarratano
Pati Jinich Styling By Danielle Giarratano
Pati Jinich Hair and Makeup: Claudine M. Fay
back to the issue
Dress: Agua by Agua Bendita x Xandra Uribe | Earrings: Nakawé Trading
photographs by george chinsee | written by kenzie mastroe
Chef Pati Jinich, star of ‘Pati’s Mexican Table,’ isn’t just talking about recipes with her Emmy-nominated PBS show — she’s sharing history, traditions, culture, and showing how food brings people together.
Early Lessons
After years of working as a political analyst in Washington D.C., Jinich made the brave decision to leave behind her established career and start a new one. During the early years of transitioning from politics to food, she started offering her own cooking classes and writing about Mexican food. "I just found it easier to explain not only where I come from, but how much Mexicans enrich this country, through our food," she explains. "I wasn't just showing how to make the food, I was explaining who we were through food."
Jinich's cooking classes and writing eventually evolved into the creation of her very own cooking show, Pati's Mexican Table, now in its 12th season, airing on PBS and online. "With recipes, I am able to bring different foods, and different cultures into peoples' kitchens and enrich their lives in so many more practical, meaningful, and spiritual ways," she says. "With food, people are not just cooking, they are learning about our history and the history of our sister countries. I realized the power of food, made the jump, and haven't looked back since."
Career Change
Some of the recipes Jinich gets the most excited to share are the recipes she grew up eating. "Mexico knows how to really have a leisurely super enjoyable breakfast no matter the day of the week," she says. "Mexican breakfast has fruit to begin with and fresh-squeezed juice and always coffee and pan dulce. There's always one kind of egg or another because we have so many ways with eggs. Huevos a la Mexicana, omelet, scrambled, rancheros, there's just so many ways and every region has its different ways. Breakfast is never an afterthought."
Jinich, her husband of 27 years, Daniel, and their three sons — Alan, 24, Sami, 21, and Julian, 17 — currently reside in Washington D.C. For Jinich, one of the biggest differences between the U.S. and Mexico is the way food is valued in society. "I moved to the U.S., and my kids started growing up, and I really had a hard time transitioning to the American new times,” she says. “You know, where breakfast is just like a quick bagel or something fast like cereal. In Mexico, meals are a time for connection and family."
A Family Affair
“I moved to the U.S., and my kids started growing up, and I really had a hard time transitioning to the American new times. You know, where breakfast is just like a quick bagel or something fast like cereal. In Mexico, meals are a time for connection and family.”
pati jinich
Despite the difficulties associated with moving to the States, the Jinich family fully embraced the cultural shift and managed to find a balance between the two cultures. “When I first moved, recreating the foods that nurtured me growing up was the way I grew roots in the U.S., but also held on to familiar flavors and recipes,” Jinich remembers. “Once I had kids, I wanted to share with them what I had in Mexico, by both holding on to traditions and culture but also sharing it through food.”
It’s important to Jinich that the traditions she grew up with and loved are passed down to her sons. “Food is our anchor,” she says. “It is how our family shares our love with each other, shows we care, and it's our favorite way to spend time together.”
As her sons become young adults, maintaining that anchor looks a little different, but it’s always central to their family. “As my kids have ventured out, it has become the recipes they test and the photos they text of what they've cooked in their dorms or for friends,” Jinich says. “Ultimately, food is our love language and what keeps us sane, whole, and together.”
While food will continue to be that central anchor in both Jinich’s family and career, she is also excited about new opportunities and business ventures. In addition to filming Pati’s Mexican Table, Jinich also recently produced a travel series for PBS called La Frontera.
Now in its second season and available to stream on PBS and Amazon Prime, La Frontera explores the rich culture of the people living near the U.S.-Mexican border and often uses food as a way to connect with the communities being documented in the series. Jinich has explored everything from meeting artists and muralists in the El Paso region of Texas to working alongside truck drivers traveling daily from Nogales, Sonora to Nogales, Arizona, and cooking and eating delicious recipes along the way.
During a recent interview for the To Dine For podcast, Jinich shared that La Frontera is not what people traditionally think of when they think of the U.S.-Mexican border. La Frontera explores “the borderland communities that live in what we know as the U.S.-Mexico region,” Jinich explains. “That’s 31 million people that are living in this incredible dimension where there is this constant back and forth between English and Spanish and U.S. and Mexican culture.”
In a way, La Frontera has allowed Jinich’s career to come full circle, going back to more of the societal and political initiatives that she initially pursued while still using food as a vehicle for exploring the richness and diversity of a culture. “The kitchen table is our favorite place to explore the world,” Jinich says. “I love enriching the lives of others with stories, ingredients, and recipes and instilling a love of how food is the most powerful communicator and bridge builder between people.”
The Next Chapter
“The kitchen table is our favorite place to explore the world, Jinich says. I love enriching the lives of others with stories, ingredients, and recipes and instilling a love of how food is the most powerful communicator and bridge builder between people.”
pati jinich
After years of working as a political analyst in Washington D.C., Jinich made the brave decision to leave behind her established career and start a new one. During the early years of transitioning from politics to food, she started offering her own cooking classes and writing about Mexican food. "I just found it easier to explain not only where I come from, but how much Mexicans enrich this country, through our food," she explains. "I wasn't just showing how to make the food, I was explaining who we were through food."
Jinich's cooking classes and writing eventually evolved into the creation of her very own cooking show, Pati's Mexican Table, now in its 12th season, airing on PBS and online. "With recipes, I am able to bring different foods, and different cultures into peoples' kitchens and enrich their lives in so many more practical, meaningful, and spiritual ways," she says. "With food, people are not just cooking, they are learning about our history and the history of our sister countries. I realized the power of food, made the jump, and haven't looked back since."