"PATI JINICH EXPLORES PANAMERICANA" RETURNS FOR SECOND SEASON

Mondays, October 26 - November 9, 2026, 9:00 - 10:00 p.m. ET on PBS

Six-Time James Beard Award Winner and Emmy-Nominated Host Pati Jinich Explores Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona in the Three-Part Series

ARLINGTON, VA; SEPTEMBER 2, 2026 - PBS announced today the return of PATI JINICH EXPLORES PANAMERICANA, premiering Mondays, October 26 - November 9, 2026 at 9:00 p.m. on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS App. The three-part second season continues Jinich's journey, inspired by the Pan-American Highway.

Traveling through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, Jinich encounters people whose traditions, ambitions and everyday acts of determination reflect the many threads that make up the United States. From ranching communities and Indigenous lands to historic neighborhoods and desert borderlands, the season explores how food, culture and personal connection reveal what unites people across the Americas.

"The farther south I travel, the deeper this journey goes," said Pati Jinich. "I keep asking what the promise of the Americas has been, and who it has been kept for. Everywhere I stop, I meet people who were here long before these borders existed, still fighting to be at home on their own land. And people who crossed an ocean carrying a recipe and hope."

"Pati Jinich is a beloved member of the PBS family whose warmth, curiosity, and genuine joy continues to delight audiences," said Zara Frankel, Senior Director, Programming & Development, Multiplatform Programming at PBS. "In this new season, she combines the pleasures of travel and food with her remarkable ability to connect with people from every walk of life, illuminating the deep roots of communities across the Americas and the many ways our stories are intertwined. This heartfelt exploration of culture, identity, and belonging reflects the very best of PBS's mission, and we can't wait for viewers to experience - and savor - every moment."

Season two of PATI JINICH EXPLORES PANAMERICANA is presented as part of PBS's year-long celebration of America's 250th birthday and marks the next chapter of Jinich's larger journey from Alaska to Argentina.

"I am in awe of how the people I encounter refuse to let go of what matters," Jinich continued. "Buffalo returning to Blackfeet land. An almost lost language taught back to children. A wool mill keeping a rural economy alive. Adobe walls still built by hand. Farmers holding on to land four generations built. They open their homes and their lives to me, and my responsibility to do right by their stories grows every season. The more I carry their stories, the more I understand my own."

In this season of PATI JINICH EXPLORES PANAMERICANA, audiences can look forward to a journey filled with surprising encounters, unforgettable flavors, and inspiring stories of reinvention. Along the way, Jinich discovers people embracing cultural traditions once nearly lost, reviving ancestral languages and ingredients, breathing new life into time-honored crafts, and finding fresh ways to celebrate where they come from. Reflecting our country's growing cultural fascination with heritage foods, handmade traditions, and stories rooted in place, PATI JINICH EXPLORES PANAMERICANA brings together music, poetry, sports, and community to reveal an American West that is vibrant, creative, and full of unexpected connections.

Episode Descriptions:

Episode 1: "Montana & Wyoming - Small Acts, Wide Ripples"

Premieres Monday, October 26, 2026, at 9 p.m.

Jinich enters the United States through Montana and Wyoming. On the Blackfeet Reservation, buffalo and a nearly lost language are returning. Farther south, women entrepreneurs and a community wool mill are rebuilding rural economies and demonstrating how one person's actions can strengthen an entire community.

Episode 2: "New Mexico & Colorado - Life Along the Rio"

Premieres Monday, November 2, 2026, at 9 p.m.

Jinich journeys from Denver's jazz-filled Five Points neighborhood south into the New Mexico desert, following the Rio Grande from near its source. Along the way, she discovers music, farming, adobe building, faith and traditions that have endured for centuries.

Episode 3: "Arizona - Abundance in the Desert"

Premieres Monday, November 9, 2026, at 9 p.m.

In Arizona's Sonoran Desert, Jinich encounters Chinese chorizo, street poetry, Desert Noir music, ancient crops and a baseball team uniting Indigenous players from across the country. Together, these stories reveal a desert defined not by scarcity, but by abundance.

PATI JINICH EXPLORES PANAMERICANA will stream Monday, October 26, 2026 and be available on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS Video App, available on iOS, Apple TV, Android mobile and tablets, Android/Google TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and tablets, Comcast, Samsung Smart TV, VIZIO and LG Smart TVs. PBS station members can view all episodes via PBS Passport (contact your local PBS station for details).

PBS Food will publish additional companion content featuring Jinich that will dive deeper into some of the foods she encounters in season two. Cooking alongside locals, she will learn, taste, and engage in making distinct cultural recipes such as Campfire Buffalo Tenderloin with chef Mariah Gladstone in Montana, a Miner's Pasty at Forage Restaurant in Colorado, Horno Bread and Chile with Henrietta Gomez of Futuros Ancestral in New Mexico, Chinese Chorizo with artist and chef Feng-Feng Yeh in Arizona, and more.

Funding for PATI JINICH EXPLORES PANAMERICANA was provided by Marriott International, Wells Fargo, La Costeña, Visit Tucson, New Mexico Tourism, Casa Madero, Visit Albuquerque, Arizona Community Foundation, Visit Santa Fe, The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and viewers like you.

PATI JINICH EXPLORES PANAMERICANA is a production of Mexican Table LLC for PBS, in association with Doppio Pictures. Created by Pati Jinich and directed by Gab Taraboulsy and Clenét Verdi-Rose. Zara Frankel is executive in charge for PBS.

About Pati Jinich

Pati Jinich is the six-time James Beard Award-winning and Emmy-nominated host and executive producer of LA FRONTERA WITH PATI JINICH, her PBS primetime documentary series revealing untold stories from the U.S.-Mexico border; PATI'S MEXICAN TABLE, now in its 15th season; and PATI JINICH EXPLORES PANAMERICANA, through which she expands her storytelling across the Americas, from Alaska to Argentina. A former political analyst, Jinich has made it her life's work to build greater understanding between her two home countries: Mexico, where she was born, and the United States, where she lives and raised her family. She is also a New York Times bestselling author of three cookbooks, including TREASURES OF THE MEXICAN TABLE: CLASSIC RECIPES, LOCAL SECRETS. Her fourth cookbook, FOODS OF LA FRONTERA, published by HarperCollins, will be released September 15, 2026. Jinich was named to The Washington Post's "Post Next: 50 People Shaping Our Society in 2025" and is the 2026 James Beard Awards Broadcast Media Hall of Fame honoree. She received the International Association of Culinary Professionals' 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the culinary world.

About PBS

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