>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington, D.C. >> Joe Yonana: I couldn't
be more excited to introduce Pati Jinich today. She is a fellow food lover,
writer, PBS television host, and, in the interest of full disclosure
as we like to say in newspapers, she is a very dear friend
of mine and, honestly, one of my favorite
people on the planet. And that is the only
time I've ever said that at The National
Book Festival just in case you've been to other things. I first got to know Pati the way
a lot of people in D.C. have, by going to one of her
absolutely incredible classes at the Mexican Cultural Institute. Now this was a big class if I
remember, 100, 150 people maybe? And as soon as I was
there and I saw Pati start to speak I just thought she can
hold the attention of a crowd like no one I had ever seen, or
at least no one I had ever seen who wasn't already a star. There are naturals and there are
naturals and it seemed obvious to me that Pati was a natural. So I've been so thrilled to see her
audience, the people who have come to realize as I already
had amazing she is, I've been so thrilled
to see it grow and grow. She works incredibly hard
to make her PBS show, "Pati's Mexican Table",
as rich, and complex, and gorgeous as her home country. She is passionate about the idea
that American audiences should grow to understand just what
Mexican food is all about, that it is so different from
region to region of Mexican, that it is so full of freshness,
and life, and love, just like Pati. >> Pati Jinich: Oh. >> Joe Yonana: In her latest
book, "Mexican Today", she sets out to prove that
Mexican dishes should be part of any modern cook's repertoire. I've always thought that Pati
has the mind of a scholar, the soul of a storyteller, the
heart of a mom, and a wife, and a friend, and the
smile of a star. Please welcome Pati Jinich. [ Applause ] >> Pati Jinich: So
you're making me cry. >> Joe Yonana: I know. We're going to cry. >> Pati Jinich: I'm Pati
Jinich and I love Joe. >> Joe Yonana: [Laughs]. So in case you hadn't noticed, I
was just going to introduce Pati but Pati asked me to stay,
[laughs], and ask her some questions on the stage and we would have
a conversation with you guys. So I guess one of the first
things that I'm curious about is how you feel like your
background, because you have such an interesting background,
and I'm not sure everybody knows, how you feel like your
background led you to food and how it continues
to inform what you do? >> Pati Jinich: Sure, yeah. Well, I think, you know, many
people ask me when I do book talks or demos I always get a few people
at the end that want to talk one on one with me and that ask
me how did you switch careers? How did you do it? And I immediately look into
their eyes and say, "Do it." >> Joe Yonana: Mm-hmm. >> Pati Jinich: Because I feel like
we all have these personal quests, you know, where should
we be, what should we do. I happened to have a very early
on existential crisis when I was like 30, 33, 34, I was
already the mom of two and I had been trained
as a political analyst. I studied political science in
Mexico and did a three year thesis on Mexican federalism, and
democratic institutions, and the different local governments. So I was a wealth of
information, you know, about Mexico all academically
and then I married Danny who you know, a lovely, lovely man. I'm very lucky. And we moved to Texas
and it was very weird because I felt like I was in limbo. You know the scenery looks a little
bit like Mexico but, Mm, not really. You went into grocery stores and
you saw jalapeno, you saw avocado, you saw it but they
didn't taste like down in Mexico and the restaurants -- . I got very nostalgic
and started cooking and very stubbornly continued with
the academic path and did a master's and working at think tank, all
the while Danny telling me, "Pati, change, change, change,
cook, cook, cook." And until one day I
just had a crisis. I mean, it had been, you know,
as you know, brewing up for like a year, a year-and-a-half, I
had been so unhappy in my workplace. And I'm typically like
a happy person. I'm accessible. I am accommodating. I'm the youngest one of four
and I'm the one in my family that people always call for advice
when things are going wrong. And I'm always the one to say, "Look
at it the other side," you know. And for a year-and-a-half I hadn't
been able to look at the other side. I was miserable. And I was pregnant with my third and suddenly I thought what
example am I going to give my kids that they should work like mad to
be fully unhappy twelve hours a day? And I resigned and
I felt at that time that I was jumping into the abyss. Like, you know, I had no
training in cooking, no nothing. And of course loved food and decided
to join L'Academie de Cuisine, their night intensive
program, and was loving it and suddenly everything that I had
learned in politics, sociology, history of Mexico started
to have meaning and started to like unlock its
real meaning to me as I started cooking those recipes. And suddenly everything makes sense. And, of course, didn't
know, you know, what I was going to do or what. I wanted to start writing
and instead of doing policy research papers to,
you know, food writing, you know. And I wanted still to be an academic
and of course my dad was very upset when I switched careers, as I
know I've told you many times, and he was like, "Oh,
after we put you in college and it was that much money. And then your husband paid for
your master's and you're going to go rinse pots and pans,"
like it makes no sense. And I feel at the beginning I
really felt like I was risking, like it was a loss, like everything that I had done before would just
go, you know, down the chute. But as years started going
by I realized that everything that I had learned and trained was
really giving such a unique bastion from where to teach cooking
and to write about cooking. And I feel, when people ask me,
going back to my introduction to this question, when people
ask me, "Should I change? I've been a lawyer 30 years,"
you know, I say, "Well, if you want to be landscaper, you know how to negotiate
with your clients." You know, like, you never know
when, because life is such a zigzag and now I see the value in
not wanting to always go in a straight path and
everything make sense. And then I think things
naturally started coming together. >> Joe Yonana: Yeah. You know, it's striking me when
you were talking about being, when you first moved to Texas, it's
the expat story really in a way. And, you know, I don't know if the
audience realizes this but so many of our great works of culinary
arts have come from the perspective of expats when you think of
Diana Kennedy, another expert in Mexican cooking, Madhur
Jaffrey, Edna Lewis even. You could consider her to be an
expat I think from the South. You know they're people whose
motivation to write about food and articulate a certain cuisine
was born out of nostalgia in a way like they wanted to explore
something that they really missed. And that seems the same for you. So when you're in Texas, like how
do think that affected your outlook on cooking, you know, being exposed to the Mexican food
in Texas particularly? >> Pati Janich: I love
that question, Joe. I love Joe. >> Joe Yonana: [Laughs]. >> Pati Janich: It
such a great question. >> Joe Yonana: We'll
just talk to each other. You guys -- . >> Pati Janich: Yeah. We just, yeah. I think it is so true. Distance does so much to you. I mean many fabulous
writers about, you know, Mexican history writers
have been foreigners. They're able to come into Mexico and
see what Mexicans take for granted. We're used to the colors. We're used to the warmth. We're used to the eclectic
celebrations and to sucking on sugar scones on the Day of the
Dead and celebrating with the people that have left, you know. Like a foreigner see all
that with awe and admiration. And I feel that happened
to me when I left to Texas. And it was many, I think it's that
constant pair that I feel that is at the same time painful and
at the same time beautiful. You know, I always like to say that I'm happily torn
between two countries. I love Mexico, the roots that I have
there, the roots that nurtured me. And I mean every time I fly
back I'm teary eyed, you know. At the same time I love the U.S. I'm
so grateful for the opportunities. I now have three American boys whose
eyes water with the American anthem. And I love the U.S., you know. I'm so grateful for America. And at the same time I've learned
so much about the United States, things that I thought
I knew as a Mexican, as an ignorant Mexican, you know. U.S. is so young. U.S. has very little history. Food is very shallow. You know, the same
things that people think about Mexican food,
"Oh, just tacos." I feel it goes both ways and
it's made me really humble and it's made me have this
continuous fear of feeling not from here, not back there. I'll tell you something
my mom told me. When I moved to the
U.S. and I got pregnant with Alan who's now a head
taller than me and I love Texas. He was born in Texas, you know, I root for the Dallas Cowboys
even though I don't like football. But my mom, when she realized that
to give birth in another country for a mother is like painful. My mom wanted me in Mexico. She wanted to see that baby born. She wanted to be the
one holding my hand. And I'm staying in Dallas. When she realized that my baby
was going to be born in the U.S. and that meant that my family
was now Mexican-American and that I now had commitments and
feelings for these other countries, she said, "You know
what you've become. You've become [foreign
language]," which is a big insult. That is, but I know she
did it to bring me back so I, you know, didn't -- . But that is, and then
she took it back. The [foreign language] means
somebody that doesn't have roots, somebody that doesn't have a
home country, somebody that is like floating and is from nowhere. >> Joe Yonana: Oh, that's painful. Yeah. >> Pati Jinich: And
it was really painful. Anyway, every time I go back
to Mexico to fill my empty soul and I bring the boys to
rediscover something that I knew or I learn something
new, I feel that there. I feel that there like
ah, my Mexico. But then when I get back to our
home in D.C. I'm like yea, I'm home. It's like this crazy
woman, you know. But I think it is so true
that nostalgia is very heavy. Nostalgia is a beautiful thing. It makes you see things in sort of a
magical realism way, very fictional, you romanticize and some
things you exaggerate. And my dad tells me all
the time, my sisters, they make fun of me,
full disclosure. They're all like -- I once
wrote a piece for my blog about how my grandfather
used to come on Sundays -- you would have loved him. He was like an angel
fallen from the sky, okay. My grandfather was just adorable. And he used to come on Sundays and
we used to make huevos rancheros, and beans, and [foreign language]
and it was like incredible. And he used to show me how to pick
figs from the fig tree and when to pick apples from the apple tree. And then, you know, he'd tell me the
stories in the hammock of he came from Poland, from very poor peasant
family and Mexico welcomed him so beautifully and he was
just fascinated with Mexico so he was it was his
-- you know, anyway. I wrote this story and my sisters
and my dad read it and when I went to Mexico they're like, "Pati, our
backyard was the size of my car. When you write about, 'we
walked through the garden and we picked the figs'," and I'm
like, "Was there a fig tree or not?" And they're like, "Yeah," and
I'm like, "Well, did grandpa used to help me pick the figs?" "Yeah." And I'm like,
"Well, that's what I said." You know. And then "Did we used to
have those gigantic breakfasts?" "But you make it sound big, Pati. You make it sound -- ." And I'm like, "That's
what's in my head." And it's not like --
I'm not making up facts. I'm just that romantic,
nostalgic person. >> Joe Yonana: And you were
smaller so the garden seemed bigger, you know, that's the other thing. >> Pati Jinich: Exactly. It was very funny because
went back to Mexico and wanted to show the boys where I grew
up and I told them, you know, the house used to have these wooden
garage doors where my dog used to bark at me when I
came back from school. And I remember I used to be
in the [foreign language], in the roof of the house. I used to take my dog,
take a blanket, take a -- you all are going to think I'm crazy
-- take a flashlight and my notebook and bring snacks for my dog
and used to write stories. >> Joe Yonana: Oh, that's so great. >> Pati Jinich: And my
mom was very worried because she thought I should be
like playing outside or whatever. And I'm like, "Well,
you're going to see in top of the house was full flowers." Somebody bought the house
when my parents divorced. We were driving through the house and there's no more
wooden garage doors. It was just like aluminum. There were no flowers there. The house is ugly, guys. >> Joe Yonana: Oh, no. [Laughs]. You can't
go back sometimes. >> Pati Jinich: I mean
twenty years later. And I was all willing to go
and ring the bell and I'm like, "I'm not ringing that bell." >> Joe Yonana: [Laughs]. >> Pati Jinich: Just
keep the memories. >> Joe Yonana: Well, it's so
interesting with food and memory to me because there's a palpable
sense of nostalgia on your show when you go to Mexico
there's just your tone of voice changes a little bit. The light looks different. You can tell that you're
caught up in a lot of memories. But I also find that food
has the strongest connection to memory of anything. They've even, scientists have said that the olfactory sense
is the strongest connected, connection to our memory because
of the way our brain is wired. And I feel like taste is, too,
like you can taste something and it takes you right back. So when you're looking at
things to film for the show and even developing
recipes, how does memory play into what you do in the kitchen? >> Pati Jinich: Memory is so big. I mean, I feel it has
such a big role. I don't know if I told you
the story about the hot dogs that I wanted to tell you. >> Joe Yonana: Yeah. Mm-hmm. >> Pati Jinich: So many people
complain about Mexican food in the U.S. It's a
bastardization of the real thing. It's not the real thing. And I mean I keep finding
incredible Mexican food. I've been on book tour on twenty
cities and I'm eating my way through some of the
best tacos, you know. And anyway, I think things
are changing dramatically. And south of the border,
Mexicans love American food. So whenever people complain about
Mexican food in the U.S. I respond, "Have you eaten a Mexican hot dog?" Because, you know, the
same thing can be said. Right next to the best and most
popular taco stand is the best hot dog stand. And we Mexicans love them. You know, it's like that kind of
in a good way love-hate thing. You know, we want to be proud. We want to be independent. We're Mexican but we want
that Coke, we want a hot dog, we want to watch that
Hollywood film. We want the Levi jeans, you know,
it's like that kind of a -- . But so my sisters and I used to
go to this hot dog stand that was on the way from school back home. So when my oldest sister, who's
eight years older than me, started driving my parents
didn't drive us anymore and on the way back we'd
stop at this hot dog stand that was called El Galan which
translates to hunk or dreamboat and I always say he was not. But his hot dogs were insane. It was, he used the
turkey, a turkey hot dog, and then he had pork bacon grilling
and it had all the bacon fat. And then -- you can
see I'm hungry -- in that bacon fat he would
throw chopped white onion, pickled jalapenos, tomato and once
that softened he would add ketchup which in Mexico we say,
"catsup", and yellow mustard, and then he had an orange bottle
that had a secret ingredient and he would squirt some of that
in there and then he would mix that sauce until it
was thick and sizzling. He would grab a bun,
put it on the bacon fat. >> Joe Yonana: Oh, wow. >> Pati Jinich: And then
turn it around, put some -- who says that Mexicans don't
love American and yellow cheese? We love American cheese. And he'd put a couple of yellow
cheddar, you know, American cheese. >> Joe Yonana: American
cheese, yeah. >> Pati Jinich: And once it
melted and it created a crust, he'd put the bun, pick up the
cheese, and then put the bacon, put the sausage, and then the sauce. And then if you wanted
your hot dog special, which everybody wanted special -- . >> Joe Yonana: More
special than that? >> Pati Jinich: More, so he would
add more, more bacon and more sauce. So you end up with
a thing like that. And so we're four girls, okay, the
four of us, we'd say, "You know, let's just, let's be decent. Let's split two between the four." And we'd eat it like
in one second, "Okay, let's split another
two between four." >> Joe Yonana: [Laughs]. >> Pati Jinich: And, I mean sometimes we would
eat like three per head. I mean we were starved. When we got back home my mom used
to make these really delicious, delicious meals, you know, chicken
Milanese, the alphabet soup, mashed potatoes always to start. And we'd show up -- in Mexico
everybody comes together for lunch at 3:00 p.m. and so it's not
like dinner doesn't matter. >> Joe Yonana: Right. >> Pati Jinich: And so
we'd all sit at the table and we wouldn't touch a thing
because we were so stuffed. So my dad got really upset and
after a couple of weeks he took out [foreign languages] and he
said, "Nobody's going to cook in the house for you anymore. From now on you all are
just going to eat hot dogs." And we were like, "Yeah." >> Joe Yonana: [Laughs]. >> Pati Jinich: So and I always
think, you know, when I'm trying to discipline my boys on something
and you decide on a strategy and you realize that it was
the wrong, wrong strategy but you can't take it
back because you said it so that's what happened
until, you know, we realized we were making
my mom feel very sad. We went back and then so many years
later, oh, my God, 30 years later, my parents divorced, my sisters
live all in different places and I'm here taping season
five, no it was season three of "Pati's Mexican Table",
the first time I was working with this new production company
which was, as you know, you know, a great departure from what I was
doing because it was unscripted. >> Joe Yoanan: Right. >> Pati Jinich: Totally natural. And when we got to [foreign
language] and we were deciding what to film -- so many
things we have said. You were asking, you know,
things that I know that in that state we need to try,
people that we need to meet, but many things we leave, let's
see what we feel like doing. Let's see what we hear. And they kept telling us
about Richard's Hot Dogs. And all the crew, they're
all American, they're like, "We're not going to
have hot dogs in Mexico. That's ridiculous." And I'm like, "Oh, you don't
know what you're missing. We have to go." So we go to Richard's Hot Dogs
and they turn on the cameras, they start filming and then, you
know, the director says, "Pati, go in the back with him so he
can teach you what he's doing." And suddenly he's doing the hot
dog and I'm like there, you know, and I see the hot dog and he puts
it together and he gives it to me and I usually, when we go film,
I'm feeding the crew because I get so excited, you know,
this so good you have to try it, you have to try it. I'm like telling the camera this
tastes like this and this -- and I get the hot dog
and I give it a bite and then Dan says, "Pati, tell us. What does it taste like?" And I'm like, like, you don't know. And he's like, "Show it to camera." Like, "Aren't you going
to give Dave a bite?" But, no, you know. So I had a really hard time. And, okay, fine, "I
had the hot dog taste like this," and here to the camera. And I just wanted to
devour the thing, you know. We finished taping and Richard
noticed like my suffering and he said, "I'll
give you one to go." He gave me a hot dog, I jumped
in the van and I closed the door to eat my hot dog and like
five minutes later Dan comes, opens the door, we're all leaving,
and I'm like crying, crying my eyes out and he's like, "Pati." It was our first day working
together and he's like, "Did I do anything wrong? Like, was I screaming or -- ?" And I said, "No, no, no,
it was just the hot dog. I'm fine." >> Joe Yonana: Oh, man. Wow. >> Pati Jinich: And he's like,
"Oh, this is what I'm going to have to deal with, huh?" >> Joe Yonana: [Laughs]. >> Pati Jinich: So,
the love for a hot dog. >> Joe Yonana: That's
such a beautiful story. And you have a hot dog recipe in
your book, in your new book so -- . >> Pati Jinich: And, yeah. I have a hot dog. >> Joe Yonana: How did you
interpret it then for your book? >> Pati Jinich: So I
did, you know, I did -- oh, this is what I did not
do because my sisters and I, after many years of going
to the hot dogs found out what was in the orange bottle. >> Joe Yonana: Uh-oh. >> Pati Jinich: It was orange soda. >> Joe Yonana: Wow. >> Pati Jinich: Because we saw
El Galan, which he was not, pouring like Orange Crush,
you know, in the soda. And, of course, when you think about
it, it's sweet, you know, it's -- we didn't care when we found
out but I didn't add it. >> Joe Yonana: Right. >> Pati Jinich: Because I just felt
it was unnecessary to add orange in our Orange Crush to
the hot dog [inaudible]. >> Joe Yonana: That's a
very different cookbook. >> Pati Jinich: Exactly. I think he trying to thin
out the sauce, you know, to make it last longer or something. But, and then I played
with the other one. So in doing this book I really tried
to do because when I was working with the editor she's
really fabulous. You know [Inaudible] and
she was telling me, "Pati, do you want to do more of the
traditional and, you know, for the contemporary kitchens? Or do you want to do
more of the new?" And since I love doing
both I said, "You know, why don't we try doing both and
we do it by themes, you know, taco night, enchilada night?" And I was having fun doing both. And I realized that for
people it's been a big change from the first book to this book. And I think people have had, I mean,
even though they love the recipes and I try to be, you know,
very innovative with the tacos and enchiladas, people want to find a chicken chapter
and a fish chapter. >> Joe Yonana: Oh, interesting. >> Pati Jinich: And I
think it gives more order. Like we're not used
to going to the index. But so I tried to do a new hot
dog so I gave, which is delicious, so this one has so The Dreamboat
is the one I grew up eating and the hot dog [foreign language] I
just tried to add my favorite things that I go for when I
go to a Mexican market, chicharron which is
pork rind, queso fresco. I die without pickled jalapenos
in my life, so pickled jalapenos and the juice and it
turned out really good. So it was something that
I knew and something new. >> Joe Yonana: Great. So another really interesting
aspect of your background and your, the way you approach cooking and your personality
is that you're Jewish. So and your family
background's really fascinating. We were talking about it at
dinner a couple of weeks ago. So maybe can you tell us a little
bit about how your family ended up in Mexico and how that comes
into your cooking and work. >> Pati Jinich: Absolutely,
absolutely. Well, I'm definitely not religious
or kosher, hence my love for pork, and chorizo, and all things seafood. But my grandparents
immigrated to Mexico at different historical times. On my father's side they came
from Poland like in the 1920's, running away from pogroms. They were trying to get
into the U.S. but the quota for Polish people was closed. And then my other grandparents,
my grandmother came from Austria and my grandfather came
from Czechoslovakia. And they came during
the Second World War. Most other family died
in concentration camps. So it was two very
different immigrant ways. And when I was growing up in
Mexico we weren't religious at all. We weren't an active part
of the Jewish community. My parents were a little
bit, you know, very independent even though we
celebrated the Jewish holidays with my grandparents
when they were alive, it was more a family cultural, especially a gastronomical
experience because there is something
called Mexican-Jewish cuisine and it is delicious. I mean, what happens with Jewish
people and Jewish communities as they moved and settled around
the world is that, thankfully, especially for Eastern European
and Yiddish or Ashkenazi foods which are very bland,
they get stamped or enriched with the ingredients. The mingling of Mexico and the
Jewish community has been one of warmth and a lot
of things in common. You know, the Jewish people are a
lot about family, eating together, sharing, always stuffing your
kids when they don't want to eat any more, you know. Mexicans are, you know, the same. There's a lot of shared values. And but when I grew up in Mexico, I must have been the only
Jew is a class of 120 people and so [inaudible]
there was something about it that wasn't comfortable. I wasn't, I wanted to
be like everybody else. So you had Gomez, Pereira,
Drijanski, like who's that? You know. And it always
stood out a little and I felt like I was treading between worlds. I felt very Mexican of course. You know my parents
are first born Mexican. I'm a second generation Mexican. Like to me I'm like
100 percent Mexican. As a Mexican you celebrate
Catholic celebrations because they're national. I mean [foreign language],
who doesn't? You know. And Christmas, and
Easter, and Day of the Dead, and because all those
celebrations are like embedded in the Mexican DNA. And I grew up also
mostly raised by my Nana, my mom used to work full
time and my nanny who came from [foreign language], she was
this lovely woman who was Catholic in the very Mexican eclectic way. And I used to go with
her to mass on Sundays, like do the full thing, you know. And my parents when they were
married they were a little selfish and they used to leave my sisters
and I with nanny, with my Nana, and she used to make
[foreign language] and turkey and we celebrated Christmas
and exchanged gifts and I feel very spiritual
when I go into a church. You know, I know it
sounds very weird but I have those things mixed in me. And I remember when my grandmother
who, you know, survived the war and came to Mexico and
felt very welcome but went through all the trauma, when she
saw me like go like that in front of a church, she nearly
had a heart attack. And she's like, "Pati,
do you realize? Do you realize what you're doing?" I didn't know. I had no idea. But anyway so I grew up
feeling like what am I? You know, like am I from here? Am I from there? And then when I moved to the U.S. it
like got exponential because I was in Dallas and when people saw
me they were like, and I'd say, "I'm from Mexico," they
were like, "No, you're not. You're not Mexican," you know. And it was very, you know,
"The people that I know from Mexico don't look
like you at all. They don't sound like you at all." And then when I would say my last
name they'd be like, "Jewish?" you know, like they couldn't
put two and two together. And so for me it was
this clashing thing. And then I have American
kids, you know. So my boys are born. So now they're
Mexican-American-Jews, you know. And I think it took me to be over
40 years old to come to terms with all the different
parts of my being and feel like they don't exclude each other. I used to be very defensive when
people, when I started cooking and I would get requests for, "Can
you do something for Passover?" [inaudible]. I'm like, "I'm Mexican,
why should I do?" you know? >> Joe Yonana: Right. >> Pati Jinich: And I think now I've
come to terms with all those sides. And I think one wants your
children to be very strong in the things that you felt weak. And I feel that's why we decided
to put our kids in Jewish school for the elementary school
years because I wanted them to be very comfortable
within their skin which I think they are much
more than when I was growing up. But still when they came out of
the bus I used to take kippah off of their heads, you know. But I feel like now
it was a little fear, a little embarrassment,
a little, you know. But I feel like now I'm so proud
about all my pieces, you know. And I don't think I could have
spoken this way five years ago. Now ask me for a matzo ball
recipe, I'll share, you know, because I feel I'm not -- . >> Joe Yonana: With
pickled jalapenos. >> Pati Jinich: With exactly. So I feel I'm a very
opinionated person and I [laughs] and I tend to go yes or no. I like something, I love it,
I don't like it, [inaudible], you know, I can't stand it. And I've learned with age to just,
you know, not be so up and down and just learn because
I know that also change in the way I perceive things. And that has happened
with Tex-Mex food as well. >> Joe Yonana: Yeah, yeah. So I want to open up to
audience questions in a minute but there was one other thing that I
wanted to make sure that I asked you because I have a particular
interest in it. And that is one of the differences between your two books was really
thrilling to me which is that -- you know where I'm
going with this -- which is that in your latest book
there are a lot of vegetables dishes which I was so excited to see. And I think that a lot of people who misunderstand Mexican food
don't realize how many beautiful vegetables and treatment of
vegetables are in Mexican dishes. They think that it's
just always -- . >> Pati Jinich: Pork. >> Joe Yonana: Pork or
[inaudible] meat or, you know, if you do an American
dish, that it's chicharrons on a hot dog which it sometimes is. >> Pati Jinich: [Laughs]. Yeah. >> Joe Yonana: But so
talk to us about that, about putting more vegetables
in the book and why and sort of how you think about that. >> Pati Jinich: Yeah. I mean I think this is a
great question and I'm going to give you a very funny answer. You know what I was saying
about Mexico and the U.S.? >> Joe Yonana: Mm-hmm. >> Pati Jinich: And
Mexico, you know, wanting -- so the trends that happen
in the U.S. usually get to Mexico a little bit later. You know, like quinoa. It started getting to Mexico and
now we're making quinoa tortillas. >> Joe Yonana: You are? >> Pati Jinich: Yes. >> Joe Yonana: I want to try that. >> Pati Jinich: I know. But it's like we, you
know, we have these things. With the vegetarian and vegan
and more vegetable dishes, in Mexico there has never
been a trend for vegetarian or vegan until very recently. So there wasn't that category as
in a dictionary of a [inaudible]. However, Mexican cuisine is
inherently vegetarian and vegan. So, you know, by the time
we realized that, oh, vegetarian is super cool, Mexican
chefs and cooks start doing but like purpose of the vegetarian
dishes we realized, wait, all these [foreign language], all
these vegetables, all these sauces, all these soups are
inherently naturally vegetarian, we just haven't gotten
that trend with that name, with that title fast enough. But Mexican cuisine have been
farm to table since the Aztecs. >> Joe Yonana: Right. >> Pati Jinich: You know,
when people here say farm to table I'm like, "That's
how we grow up in Mexico." You go to the farmer's market
which is literally the people from the farm with their things
on a roll from the market. And the farm to table, you know,
all these movements for fresh and seasonal, Mexico,
Mexico, Mexico. And it turns out that
vegetarian and vegan is also -- if you go to the provinces
especially in Mexico, and not necessarily Mexico City, you will find that the Mexican
diet is mainly vegetarian. It's black beans, pinto beans. It's [foreign language]
squash, chilis. It's corn, corn tortillas,
corn masa. There's very little meat. It's of course the
taquerias and the -- . >> Joe Yonana: Sure. >> Pati Jinich: You know, and
the things that become popular. >> Joe Yonana: Great. Delicious. Thank you. So, I want to open
it up to questions. So anyone who has questions
please come to one of the microphones
so we can hear you. Otherwise I have to keep asking
questions which I'm happy to do. Pati and I could talk
all day but we want to hear what you guys
are curious about. Mexican food? >> Pati Jinich: I think I was -- . >> Joe Yonana: Vegetables? We just covered -- . >> Pati Jinich: I was
getting to personal. >> Joe Yonana: We're
such completest. You have to stand up and you
have to go to the microphone. Stand up. Come to the microphone. Thank you. >> Pati Jinich: Yea, a question. >> Joe Yonana: Hi. >> Hi. Have you tasted any
other food besides Mexican and American food? >> Pati Jinich: Yes, yes, yes. We love all foods. My family loves Italian,
Japanese, Chinese. Yeah, we love to explore and we
love to find where, you know, there are the common things and
where the different things happen. We were just in Japan this summer. And I was so amazed with all
the ceremony and attention that goes into the way we eat. So radically different from Mexico. You know Mexicans, you have an
enchilada and you have, you know, it's like a potato and
swiss chard enchilada. And we have the sauce,
and we have the garnishes, and we have the chiles and we put
it all there for you already, there. You know. You take a bite
and everything is there. When we went to Japan and I
asked for the Japanese breakfast, it was like twenty things
and I was like, "Okay. So what goes on top of each other?" And they're like, "No, no. You pick a little this,
you pick a little that." And I like to have a little bit
of everything in a spoon so I was, first of all I'm horrible with
the chopsticks, embarrassingly. I mean it was a challenge for me. And then I learned to
appreciate why and how you really, you're playing with your palate. You had a little bit salty,
you had a little bit -- . And Mexican cuisine is more
everything's there for you. >> Joe Yonana: Right. >> Pati Jinich. But, yes, so yeah. >> Joe Yonana: Questions? Hi. >> Hi. I want to know
if you're going to write a Mexican-Jewish cookbook? >> Pati Jinich: Yeah. >> Joe Yonana: Great question. >> Pati Jinich: Yes. I've been asked a lot about
that and in fact, you know, we're friends with Jo
Nathan, who's phenomenal, and I've told her many times that
she should do it because she's so great at doing the Mediterranean,
the American, the Latin American. I feel I love Mexican-Jewish food. You know I grew up eating that
on the holidays and every Friday. And there's so many
foods that I like making at home from my grandparents. But since I am not kosher, you know,
I don't know if that prevents me from having the authority
to say, you know, here is a Mexican-Jewish cookbook because I think the
expectation would be that it would also be kosher. And, I mean, maybe I'd have to take
a course on, so that I would be, you know, but I feel like I have a
little bit of a weak point there. I appreciate kosher food and I
appreciate all different kinds of Mexican-Jewish food but I feel that I would be very
weak on that part. >> I'm a culinary instructor
in Maryland and I would love to read the book if you had it. And I have your first cookbook. >> Pati Jinich: Oh, yea. Thank you. In the second cookbook I
have a great matzo ball soup. >> Ah, great. >> Pati Jinich: You know
what I do to the matzo balls? >> Joe Yonana: What? >> Pati Jinich: I -- . >> Joe Yonana: Chicharron? No. >> Pati Jinich: No. Let me tell you what I do to them. My grandmother who came from Austria
who was such an extraordinary cook, she used to add nutmeg instead
of black pepper and, of course, parsley, and a little
bit of sparkly water to make the matzo balls very fluffy. And I started adding, you know,
you add vegetable oil to the dough, to the matzo ball dough,
I started adding a splash of toasted sesame oil. And the combination of the
toasted sesame oil with the nutmeg and the matzo meal is insane. It's like you have three
layers of nuttiness. It's like toasty, like toasty
layers, different kinds of -- help me with the word
-- it's not toasty. It's like toasty. >> Joe Yonana: Like nutty? Nutty. >> Pati Jinich: Yeah. Like nutty, toasty. They're really good. You should try them. >> Thank you very much. >> Pati Jinich: Thank
you, thank you. >> Joe Yonana: Yes. >> Yeah. How much has Tex-Mex
influenced your books and, question two, do you
have any recommendations for restaurants in the D.C. area? >> Pati Jinich: In D.C.
I feel that it's not like Tex-Mex has influenced
my cooking but I think like Tex-Mex has opened my mind
and I've learned to appreciate that there's regional Mexican
cuisine south of the border, there's Tex-Mex which its
own animal, its own being, that it's evolving, and then there's
other Mexican regional cuisines that are evolving north of the
border that are not Tex-Mex or [inaudible] but they're
Mexican and it's just, Trump wouldn't be happy with this,
but the border in gastronomic terms, you know, regional Mexican cuisine
is just everywhere to the benefit of everyone because
it's so delicious. You go to California there's one
kind of regional Mexican food. You to Chicago, there's
a different one. And it's Mexican, you know, just
like the nominal Italian cuisine in the U.S. I mean I think,
it was so funny because we like to take the boys
wherever we can, you know, especially now that they're older. So every summer we try to take them
something that's very exotic for us. So a few summers ago
we took them to Paris and we ate the best Italian
food we tasted in our lives. And we were sort of disappointed with the French food we
were eating, you know. But that Italian restaurant
was insane, you know. You had another question,
oh, recommendations, okay. There's, from the time
that I moved here to D.C. which I think was sixteen years ago,
there's been an explosion in terms of food and restaurants,
not only Mexican, the scene is so much better. It's phenomenal now. So there's Oyamel, you know,
Jose Andres' Mexican restaurant which is really fabulous. His tacos are really good. He makes his own masa. There is a restaurant that I
really love that's called El Sol Tequileria [inaudible]. >> Joe Yonana: Yes. Very good. So good. >> Pati Jinich: He's so good. I mean that Mexican,
Mexican like you would eat in a Mexican's grandma house. And it is phenomenal. He also makes everything, his
sauces, his moles, his corn. It's packed now. I mean it's 10 days. >> Joe Yonana: [Inaudible]
Eleventh Street. >> Pati Jinich: Eleventh
Street then and he's adorable. If Chef Solis is there, ask for
him and he'll send you the -- he has great queso fundidos as well. There's Habanero which
I also went to. It's, I think, on Fourteenth Street. It's very good as well. >> Joe Yonana: Columbia Heights. >> Did you say Habanero? >> Joe Yonana: Taqueria,
Taqueria Habanero. >> Pati Jinich: Yes. Really good salsa. I think, I mean, and then of course
there's Victor Albisu's Taco Bamba. I haven't been to Taco Bamba
but I've eaten his tacos. >> Joe Yonana: Mm-hmm. >> Pati Janich: At
presentations he's done and they're really good as well. >> Thank you. >> Pati Janich: Sure. >> Joe Yonana: Other questions? Yes. >> Can you talk a little
bit about what it took to get published the first time? The process that you went through to
decide to write in the first place and then how you went about, if you
needed an agent, if you published with difficulty or
ease, how did that go? >> Pati Jinich: Absolutely. I think there's a big advantage
in life when you jump blind into something because if you
start researching about, you know, the process and how difficult
it is, you'll freeze. And it was very hard. It was very hard especially in
the field of Mexican cooking because there's so much out there. There's so many Mexican cookbooks. That it really, really needed
to be something very different from what was in the market. And I think I sent it to
maybe 30 or 25 publishers. And I think I must have gotten
24 rejections in one year. >> Joe Yonana: And when you, just
to interject for a minute, you, what was the -- where
were you in your show when you were writing the book? >> Pati Jinich: So when I was
writing the book I was working on season one. >> Joe Yonana: Right. >> Pati Jinich: And that also
helped, you know, in them thinking that I would -- so this
is what I recommend. Like I think these days there
needs to be some kind of platform, you know, either you blog, or
your strong on social media, or you teach classes,
or you write something. But you already have,
don't you think? Like if you already have some people that like your content I
think that's very powerful when you come and try
pitch yourself. Now publishing versus
self publishing, I wholeheartedly recommend
publishing because publishing they're going
to be very critical with your work and you can't just publish whatever. They're going to be very tough. They're going to be critical. They're going to help you say, you
know -- oh, two minutes left, okay. It's a much harder process but you
went with a much better product than if you self publish. And also, they'll help market. They'll help position the book. >> Joe Yonana: Time for one
very quick one from someone who hasn't asked I'm afraid. >> You mentioned L'Academie
de Cuisine. Do you find that was a necessary
step for you looking back? >> Pati Jinich: For me, yes,
because I did it later in life and I felt like I needed the tools. And, yeah, I think it
helped me realize -- I mean you don't have to do
the full four years in the CIA, just like jump into a
course, or, you know, ask to intern at a restaurant. Like I always say if you're thinking
about switching careers into food, just try to get a taste
of what that will be and so you can get some tools. I believe that the most preparation
is the better preparation and over-preparation is
being barely prepared. [Laughs]. >> Joe Yonana: Well,
thank you very much, Pati. I think that's about
all we have time for. Thanks so much. >> Pati Jinich: Thank you. [ Applause ] >> This has been a presentation
of the Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov.
