One sister owns a restaurant in Miami, another is a caterer in Vancouver, a third one has written cookbooks and her mother is an avid cook who spends leisure time reading cookbooks and recipes.

In recent years, Jinich herself has turned cooking into a career.

"In my family, cooking is the main thing that everybody talks about," the Bethesda resident says. As she was growing up, she recalls, "cooking was a big, exciting production -- always. ... Food was the main, happy topic."

Jinich, 37, who belongs to Adas Israel Congregation in D.C., grew up in Mexico City (her grandparents emigrated from Europe -- two in the early 1900s, two after World War II) with two food cultures: Eastern European and Mexican. There is, she says, a "wealth of Mexican Jewish cooking that is just delicious," for example, matzah balls spiced up with jalapeno pepper.

Despite her family's focus on food, though, she never intended it to become her vocation.

Initially interested in studying philosophy and literature, she ultimately majored in political science in college. "Since I was very little, I was always curious. I got labeled the intellectual of my family," she says. "To me, everything I don't know is fascinating."

After receiving her degree, she took a position with a think tank focusing on democracy. In her spare time, "I was always thinking about what I was going to eat, when I was going to eat."

And, no, she says, neither she nor anyone in her family is overweight. "I think life will take a vengeance on us one day," she quips.

Several years after college, Jinich married and moved to Texas. While she was working on her master's thesis on Mexican federalism and democracy, she sought a job or project to keep her busy.

She ended up working as a production assistant on a public television cooking show for about a year. "It was the best-ever experience," Jinich says.

About nine years ago, her husband's job brought the family to the D.C. area. She successfully completed her master's degree in Latin American studies at Georgetown University, and began working for the Inter American Dialogue think tank.

She enjoyed her job, but still had food on the brain. Her husband, Daniel, encouraged her to follow her passion. But, she wondered: "I thought I married a liberal guy, and now I think he just wants me in the kitchen."

Four years ago, after her third child was born, Jinich realized she was no longer happy at work. "I was struggling with the balance between work and family," she says, noting it was difficult to give up the think tank world, having long considered herself an academic.

After quitting her job, she enrolled in an intensive course at L'Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, and thought about combining her cooking, research and writing skills to focus on Mexican food.

In 2007, prompted by the director of the Mexican Cultural Institute, a nonprofit arm of Mexico's embassy, she launched "Mexican Table," an ongoing series of cooking demonstrations and tasting dinners. (She just began a recipe blog at www.patismexicantable.com.)

She's also passed a passion for food to the next generation. When her oldest child, 9, recently had to do a project on a country, he chose Austria, Jinich's grandmother's native land.

Not surprisingly, the project focused heavily on that nation's food. -- Debra Rubin

Suggestions for profiles may be sent to infocus@washingtonjewishweek.com.

Name: Patricia Jinich

Hebrew name: Irit

Lives in: Bethesda

Birthday: March 30, 1972

Synagogue: Adas Israel in D.C.

Favorite Jewish holiday: Chanukah

Favorite Jewish food: cholent

Favorite Jewish celebrity: Joan Nathan