Host of the public television series Pati's Mexican Table, which premiered nationwide in April 2011, cooking teacher, food writer and official Chef of the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC, Patricia (Pati) Jinich was born and raised in Mexico City, and comes from a family of accomplished cooks. She has resided in the Washington, DC area for the past 12 years, where she and her husband are raising their three young boys. Before moving to Washington, Patricia hosted Mexican cooking classes in Dallas, Texas, and was a collaborator on the public television series New Tastes from Texas.
After moving to Washington, Patricia served as a political analyst, and completed a Masters degree in Latin American Studies at Georgetown University. Upon graduating she worked at The Inter-American Dialogue, a policy research center.
Patricia left her policy work to pursue her life-long passions: to research, write about, test, and cook Mexican food, and to share her knowledge of Mexican cuisine and culture with others. In 2007 she launched Mexican Table -- an ongoing series of culinary programs comprised of informative talks, cooking demonstrations and tasting dinners -- at the Mexican Cultural Institute.
Through the Mexican Table series Patricia continues to share her rich, entertaining and insightful perspective on Mexican cuisine in an intimate setting. With the launch of Pati's Mexican Table in 2011, Pati is able to share her talent with a far broader audience. She familiarizes series participants with not only Mexican ingredients and cooking techniques, but also with the many regional cultures, traditions and histories that together inform Mexico's diverse cuisine. She launched her blog www.patismexicantable.com to be able to share her work and food-related writing and stories.
She has appeared as a guest on the Food Network, NBCs The Today Show, CBS, CNN en Español, Fox News, NPR and The Splendid Table. She has also been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Examiner. Patricia has hosted live programs for The Smithsonian Associates and Meridian International Center, and has cooked at Blair House, the official state guesthouse for the President of the United States.
