The night before I spoke to Pati Jinich, the acclaimed chef, cookbook author, and television personality, she had eaten chipotle turkey meatballs for dinner.
It’s a staple at her home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where she records one of her PBS shows.
It’s been a busy day judging by the number of people who rang their doorbells during our conversation.
It ranged from her new book Treasures of the Mexican Table: Classic Recipes, Local Secrets; her Borderlands show from PBS, getting the green light for a second season; the 10th season of “Pati’s Mexican Table”; on her family’s Jewish-Mexican heritage.
What Jinich speaks compellingly, it’s clear that she’s found a way to weave bits of her past life as an academic and Latin American political analyst into her work as a cultural ambassador.
Food can do that. In the right place and at the right time, good food in particular can serve democracy and diplomacy.
Jinich – pronounced HEEN-I – has recently turned to the frontiers and has become their newest champion, considering them more than an in-between space, mythologized only as a place of danger, drugs, human trafficking and corruption.
This is not a place that people in the border areas recognize, nor is it one that Jinich has embraced.
Disparate regions hug both sides of the border, creating regional dishes that have traveled far beyond – from Washington state to Washington, DC
But even Mexicans are ignorant of the differences along the nearly 2,000-mile route, she said, pointing to the recipes and stories in Treasures, whose soups, salsas and fish dishes demonstrate regional differences at the micro level, differing from rancho to rancho Rancho and Casera to Casera.
The frontiers have brought us iconic dishes and trends—from the nacho that was born at Victory Club in Piedras Negras to what Jinich says will be the next big thing: Chilirio.
It hails from Sinaloa, best known for being the home of drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera. But it’s Mexico’s breadbasket, Jinich said.
And his Chilirio is “about to become extremely popular.”
“People are going to love it,” she said of the adobo-seasoned pulled pork, akin to a sloppy joe mix that can star in tacos, tortas, nachos, and quesadillas.
Then she pulls back the camera lens for a wider view.
“The interesting thing about the United States and Mexico is that we are so close,” she said. “We are so dependent on each other. It is obvious.”
While the climate between the two might have been worse before a president, she says even those who profess to dislike Mexico enjoy taco nights and taco trucks.
“Mexican restaurants are packed,” she said, and the reality is, “If you want tacos, you need Mexican.”
Earlier this year, Jinich told the Houston Chronicle’s Greg Morago that Mexican food is becoming “completely borderless” and authentic dishes are being prepared north of the border.
It has “made Mexican food bigger”.
Jinich also sees the border areas as magnets of diversity and points to the influences of Lebanese, Japanese, Chinese and Syrians.
A native of Mexico, she initially lived in Dallas where she began cooking by befriending Mexican chefs who shopped at Dallas supermarkets. She asked them what they wanted to cook with the chilies in their carts.
Jinich is now the author of three cookbooks, host of two PBS food shows, and was named one of the “100 Greatest Chefs of All Time” by Epicurious and Bon Appetite.
The Webb County Heritage Foundation named her Culinary Ambassador of the Republic of Rio Grande for her unscripted prime-time documentaries, “La Frontera with Pati Jinich.”
The republic was established in 1840 and lasted 283 days.
We keep developing.
This weekend. Jinich will celebrate Passover and prepare her grandmother’s gefilte fish, a dish with Veracruz-style sauce.
Meanwhile, Muslim families break their fasts at their Ramadan festivals.
This Saturday I’ll be hosting about 15 people for an early Easter celebration with Texas rib eye steaks, kiolbassa sausage and lots of fresh salads.
The staple of every celebration at my house—salsa and guacamole—is served.
In this old town, which is also part of the border areas, we play frisbee and lotería and watch children crack cascarones and hunt for Easter eggs.
On this holy holiday weekend, Jinich leaves us a message from the frontiers worth repeating around the world—that we are much more alike than we are different.
eayala@express-news.net