Pati Jinich's new PBS show redefines what it means to be American
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Pati Jinich in Alberta, Canada. Photo: Alan Jinich/Mexican Table
Beloved Mexican chef Pati Jinich is known for her PBS show "Pati's Mexican Table," filmed from her Chevy Chase home. But on Tuesday, she takes viewers far beyond her kitchen in a new series: "Pati Jinich Explores Panamericana."
Why it matters: At a time when discussions of borders, immigrants, and what it means to be American can turn toxic, Jinich brings her infectious joy, curiosity, and appetite on a journey through the Americas.
The big picture: Jinich's obsession with pathways is personal. A Jewish Mexico City native whose grandparents fled Europe's pogroms and the Holocaust, she moved to Dallas and then D.C., earning a master's in Latin American studies at Georgetown. While working at a think tank, she found her true passion teaching cooking at the Mexican Cultural Institute.
- Thirteen seasons, an Emmy nomination, and several cookbooks later, she widened her lens with "La Frontera," a PBS Primetime docuseries highlighting the rich, interconnected communities along the "misunderstood" U.S.-Mexico border.
Now, she's expanding even further — tracing routes along the Pan-American Highway, a sprawling network from Alaska to Argentina, to illuminate the common threads that unite the Americas.
- In this season, Jinich starts in the northernmost U.S. city, Utqiagvik, Alaska, where she explores subsistence living, Native modern art, and the roots of dogsledding. She travels to southern Alberta, "the Texas of Canada," delving into cowboy culture.
- Along the way, Jinich breaks bread with people of all backgrounds — Orthodox Russians in Alaska, First Nations communities in Canada, Filipino and Mexican immigrants — connecting across cultures and ideologies.
What she's saying: "Without bias, without an agenda, it's just going to meet different people and see how different communities and regions are tackling the big challenges of our time," Jinich tells Axios.
- "The mission of the show is to reimagine what it means to be an American from a place of humility, of humbleness, of 'I want to learn more.'"
What we're watching:: The first season is just a slice of the Americas. The rest of the journey may face political roadblocks. The Trump administration plans to ask Congress to rescind over $1 billion in funding that supports NPR and PBS, Jinich's television home for over a decade.
- For Jinich, PBS is personal. It's how she learned English, watching the news and shows with her kids. "For me, PBS was content I could count on being good, true and inspiring, and not manipulated," says Jinich.
She's weathered threats to public broadcasting before."There's always a fear. But the ones who would lose are the people, the communities. PBS is part of the fabric of the United States."
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Utqiagvik is the northernmost U.S. city (not Halibut Cove).