Even before José Andrés took the stage at the George Washington University’s Jack Morton Auditorium Thursday night, it was clear the world-renowned chef, author, humanitarian and founder of GW’s Global Food Institute wouldn’t be hosting a run-of-the-mill onstage conversation. On the table where he and guest Pati Jinich would sit was a bottle of red wine and two glasses—their presence a clue to the audience that the evening, a recording of Andrés’ “Longer Tables” podcast, would be less like watching a performance than like eavesdropping on a conversation between two well-traveled friends reuniting at a dinner party.
In a lively, insightful discussion, Andrés, HON ’14, and Jinich, host for 13 seasons of James Beard Award-winning public television series “Pati’s Mexican Table,” discussed their empowering immigrant experiences, their pride in their Hispanic heritage, the power of food and the tight-knit, compassionate communities that form in unexpected places—whether in the wake of disaster or in an overlooked, liminal space like a border town.
“The two words I feel most comfortable using to describe myself are two you will recognize: I’m a cook, and I’m an immigrant,” Andrés said in his introduction to the program. “Hispanic Americans, Latinos, I believe we are bridges—like all immigrants, in a way, we are all bridges. We unite faraway places.”
For both Jinich and Andrés, cooking was a way to share the root cultures they love with also-beloved new communities in the United States. Andrés came to Washington, D.C., from Spain more than 30 years ago, founding his first restaurant, Penn Quarter tapas favorite Jaleo, in 1993. At the time, the concept of “Spanish food” wasn’t widely understood in the United States; with comic dismay, Andrés remembered patrons demanding guacamole, or being bewildered when they received Spanish tortilla—a potato and egg omelet that is a staple of Spanish cooking—instead of the corn or wheat flatbread they expected.
But Andrés didn’t let these reactions frustrate him. “That’s life: We [only] know what we know, and what we don’t know is an opportunity. I felt like my culture was not well known, and this gave me purpose.”
Through his restaurants, Andrés became not just a cook but “a storyteller through dishes,” engaged alongside “every cook, every waiter” in sharing the stories of their lives and cultures through the food they made. As he met guests, employees and colleagues from all walks of life, from cultures with which he wasn’t always familiar, his interests and his excitement in learning expanded too. Through sharing his own culture, he provided a space where others could share theirs and new collaborations could grow.
His interests expanded globally, and in 2010 Andrés founded World Central Kitchen (WCK), a nonprofit that feeds communities affected by humanitarian, climate and community crises worldwide. Currently, in the United States alone, WCK is providing thousands of free meals to communities devastated by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and Georgia as well as those impacted by Hurricane Milton in Florida.
Andrés also has a long and fruitful relationship with GW, where in 2012 he introduced the interdisciplinary “World on a Plate” course, giving students insight into the often-unexpected ways food and social issues intersect. In 2014, he spoke at GW’s commencement. In 2023, he partnered with the university to launch the Global Food Institute, an interdisciplinary research and policy initiative delivering solutions to the biggest challenges facing global food systems today.
Like Andrés, Jinich said sharing her cultural heritage has deepened her relationship not only to the United States, but to her home country as well. She began hosting “Pati’s Mexican Table” on American television “with a very nostalgic heart, wanting to share the Mexico that I knew, the Mexico that I missed, the Mexico that I wanted people to get to know.”
But as the show has evolved, Jinich said she’s became more aware of the enormity of Mexican food culture and has developed an interest in investigating her own blind spots.
“Being an immigrant from Spain here in the U.S., doesn't it happen to you that you meet people from regions and places that you haven’t even been to in Spain…and you see your home country with this nostalgia and this wonder?” she asked Andrés. “Like, ‘How come I didn't know this?’ That's what's happened to me with the show.”
Recently, Jinich visited “la frontera,” the borderlands between the United States and Mexico and was energized by the “fascinating ecosystem” she found there of ordinary people—artists, athletes, entrepreneurs—living life in a space that is neither here nor there, neither this nor that. “The borderlands isn’t just a wall that people are trying to cross. 31 million people live in those communities.” Jinich said she “felt so at home” in this space between cultures, with its unique yet varied accents, food and cultural practices, drawing on both Mexico and the United States yet defined by neither.
Liminal spaces like the border are deeply meaningful to Jinich, who remembered her mother once referring to her, after her emigration, as having become “despatriada:” “Someone with no homeland, someone who comes from nowhere…who belongs nowhere, someone who has their roots floating around.”
On the contrary, Jinich said, coming to the United States and sharing the food of her childhood with her new community has made her feel “doubly rooted.” “Through the soft power of food,” she said, “I was able to not only strengthen my roots to my home country, but…I was able to grow roots just as strong in this country.”
Andrés and Jinich each have three children born in the United States, and both shared the complex experience of parenting from an immigrant perspective. Both Andrés’ and Jinich’s children could be tactless when they were young, embarrassed by their parents’ accented English and the ways their homes differed from their friends’. But as they’ve grown, Jinich said, they’ve expressed more interest and pride in their roots, becoming eager to share their family’s food and culture rather than hide it.
“I always tell my kids…we're doubly blessed,” Jinich said. “We have two cultures to draw from, the languages, the cuisine, the culture, the traditions. But we also have double the responsibility. Which can be tiring, but it's fun.”
