As a fan of PBS, cooking shows and Mexican food, imagine my excitement: Pati Jinich, host of the James Beard Award-winning, Emmy-nominated show “Pati’s Mexican Table,” was coming to Detroit. For the first time. And she was nice enough to come on the Daily Detroit podcast!
Jinich stopped by the Podcast Detroit studio at the Detroit Shipping Company this week, where she and I chatted about what brought her to Detroit, what she’d eaten here so far and all sorts of intricacies of her native Mexican cuisine. She was on her second day in town and had so far sampled Detroit-style pizza at Buddy’s, pastries at Mexicantown Bakery, Polish fare in Hamtramck, plus competing Coneys at both American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island downtown. Her verdict on those dogs is nuanced and fascinating.
Getting a Detroit education. pic.twitter.com/hUJOtdy4C7
— Pati Jinich (@PatiJinich) October 25, 2018
There’s an ironclad rule of writing that says “show don’t tell,” but I just had to say that Jinich is as sweet and approachable in person as she comes off on her show. It was a delight to interview her. And while she never said it on our show, I just love how she pronounces the word “pasta.”
I can say this… Mexican food is really good in Mexicantown, Detroit! #NuestraFamiliaTaqueria pic.twitter.com/15MZjsMe4m
— Pati Jinich (@PatiJinich) October 24, 2018
One thing I never got around to asking her on tape, because the segment was running long, and because chef Godwin Ihentuge was waiting to interview her after me for his podcast, “The Refrigerator Diaries,” was whether the ugly side of current U.S.-Mexico political relations ever came up in her current work. (Before branching off into cooking and television, Jinich worked as a political analyst for an international relations think tank.)
“All the time,” Jinich told me after we’d stopped recording, characterizing some Americans’ thinking as, “Build the wall, get out, but give us your tacos.” God bless her for spreading the gospel of this wonderful cuisine and culture.
You can watch the segment above, or listen to the whole episode in the player below. And check out the gallery below, too.
Recent Comments