16 Facts About Pati Jinich

Patricia Jinich is a Mexican chef, TV personality, cookbook author, educator, and food writer.

Pati Jinich is best known for her James Beard Award-winning and Emmy-nominated public television series Pati's Mexican Table and her James Beard Award-winning PBS primetime docuseries La Frontera with Pati Jinich.

Pati 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.

Pati Jinich has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Talk, CBS This Morning, Live with Kelly and Mark, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and The Splendid Table among other media.

Pati Jinich's food writing has appeared in The Washington Post and The New York Times.

In May 2014, Pati Jinich was invited to cook at the White House for President Barack Obama's Cinco de Mayo dinner.

Pati Jinich was born and raised in Mexico City to a Jewish family.

Pati Jinich's father was an architect who turned restaurateur, and her mother ran an art gallery.

Pati Jinich earned a political science bachelor's degree from the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico and a master's degree in Latin-American studies from Georgetown University, and she worked as a political analyst for the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington, DC think tank before switching careers.

Pati Jinich met her husband, Daniel Jinich, who is Jewish-Mexican, on a blind date.

Pati 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.

Pati 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.

The book is based on the traditional Mexican home cooking with which Pati Jinich grew up, with many recipes gleaned from her childhood in Mexico City.

Pati Jinich explores both traditional and rediscovered Mexican dishes as well as reinterpretations and new takes using Mexican ingredients in this book.

Pati Jinich's sister Karen Drijanski is a chef in Mexico City.

Pati Jinich's other sister, Sharon Drijanski, is a designer and has written vegetarian cookbooks.