WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pati’s Mexican Table, the delightful series from award-winning chef and best-selling cookbook author Pati Jinich, premieres its fourth consecutive season on PBS and public television stations nationwide. The new 13-episode season begins airing the weekend of April 4.
An exclusive clip and the trailer from Season 4 are available as a sneak preview.
Executive Producer Gordon Elliott – Emmy-Award winner, leader in lifestyle programming and creator of ABC’s The Chew – and his team at Follow Productions began collaborating with Jinich starting with Season 3. It was the show’s most successful season to date, earning terrific ratings and 8.4 million viewers in its first run, with carriage in 94% of U.S. TV households.
The series has already garnered industry recognition picking up nominations for “Best Series” by the International Association of Culinary Professionals and an Imagen Award in the same category as Oprah Winfrey, and a win for a Taste Award.
Season 4 debuts with four episodes filmed entirely in Mexico. Set in San Miguel de Allende, one of the world’s leading travel destinations, they follow Jinich as she vacations with her family. Jinich also meets local chefs, growers and winemakers, inspiring her to cook new recipes in a historic house in the heart of San Miguel.
“Pati Jinich doesn't just host her show, she brings her whole life to it. Her sisters, her parents, her kids, her hometown, her favorite hideaways, her culture and her joy in being around one of the most diverse and delicious cuisines in the world,” said Elliott.
The same enthusiasm that characterized her early efforts to share her cooking and stories through her blog and live cooking classes can be felt in this national TV series. The series continues to engender a large loyal following, as an increasing number of people connect with Jinich’s immigrant story and dual-heritage family life.
Jinich makes traditional recipes passed down from her family, as well as her own creations inspired by her life in the United States and her three American-born sons.
“I can’t pick a favorite episode this time around,” said Jinich, who left a career at a prestigious Washington think tank to formally jump into the kitchen. Pati’s Mexican Table came about mainly out of nostalgia for the foods that nurtured her childhood in Mexico and her desire to share ways in which those flavors and stories contribute to the American table.
In the rest of Season 4 Jinich is back in Washington cooking in her home kitchen, while entertaining field pieces – filmed both in Mexico and the U.S. – remain central to each episode’s story.
Jinich visits with chefs from both sides of the border. She meets Mexican chefs who bring new ideas to the native cuisine in a Modern meets Traditional episode and connects with a Mexican-American chef in the U.S. to compare tastes in a Mexamericana episode. She also visits the “Willy Wonka” of tamal-making, while spending time with her dad in Mexico, and throws a tamal party for her friends in a Tamaliza episode.
Other highlights include a Street Food Favorites episode where Jinich devours her way through Guanajuato and a Taco Night episode at home with her family.
“This is the type of cooking that’s happening in kitchens all over America, and it’s a relevant, shared experience that resonates with people from all backgrounds,” said Jinich.
In a fun Fan Favorites episode, the mutual warmth and gratitude between Jinich and her audience shines through, featuring videos submitted by viewers from all over the country and ending with Jinich paying a surprise visit to a viewer to cook for her and her family.
Season 4 proves why Pati’s Mexican Table has something for everyone, whether a Latino viewer searching for a recipe their grandmother made but never wrote down, or home cooks looking for new ideas to try.
Pati's Mexican Table is a co-production of WETA Washington, DC and Mexican Table, LLC in association with Follow Productions.
The Host: Born and raised in Mexico City, Pati Jinich served as a political analyst before leaving policy work to jump into the kitchen. Her first cookbook, Pati’s Mexican Table: The Secrets of Real Mexican Home Cooking, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, recommended by The New York Times and included in Amazon’s Top 20 2013 cookbooks. Her second cookbook is slated for release in 2016. Jinich is a regular guest on ABC's The Chew, NBC’s The Today Show, CBS’s The Talk, NPR’s All Things Considered and The Splendid Table. She has been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune and other leading national and regional press. She hosts live programs for The Smithsonian Institution and has cooked for President Obama at the White House’s Cinco de Mayo dinner.
Follow Productions: For over a decade, Follow Productions has been one of television’s leading producers of high-quality lifestyle programming. Formed by Gordon Elliott in 1999, it quickly turned out a string of successful series, including Doorknock Dinners, Follow That Food, Paula Deen’s Home Cooking and Road Tasted. By breaking out of traditional cooking environments and emphasizing “real world” elements, these shows helped Food Network expand its viewership. Follow Productions has produced a series of breakout hits including Big Daddy’s House, Spice & Easy, Down Home with the Neelys and now Pati’s Mexican Table. Follow Productions looks to continue its success in finding television’s next star personalities and developing strong show formats.
WETA Television: WETA Washington, DC serves the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia with high-quality programming. As the leading PBS station in the nation’s capital, WETA broadcasts on four channels: WETA TV 26, WETA HD, WETA UK and WETA Kids. For national PBS audiences, WETA produces PBS NewsHour, Washington Week with Gwen Ifill, and films by Ken Burns, such as The Address, and performance specials from the White House and the U.S. Capitol.
