Oct. 2012, ALBUQUERQUE —Chef Walter Staib is taking his cooking show to New Mexico. He’s going out west for the newest episode of the four-time Emmy Award winning, James Beard nominated show A Taste of History. Staib, a culinary historian and adventurer is tracing hot peppers back to the roots of American food – how the Native Americans used them as preservatives centuries ago. The show will include a cast of culinary elite, including author and historian, Dave Dewitt, “Pope of Peppers” and chef, author and native foods historian Lois Ellen Frank.

Staib and Multi Media Productions will film a live pepper harvest in Hatch, New Mexico, capture Los Ranchos de Las Golondrinas on film, bring the El Camino Real trail to life and taste true New Mexico cuisine with fresh chile roasted at El Pinto Restaurant & Cantina in Albuquerque.
El Pinto is celebrating its 50th year in providing award winning New Mexican cuisine. Stretching back to 1939 the El Pinto family continues to create a legacy for New Mexican food. “We are excited to share a taste of New Mexican history and distinctive green chile recipes with Chef Staib from the traditions of our grandmother Josephina Chavez-Griggs,” remarked Jim Thomas co-owner of El Pinto.

Staib brings the 18th century to life by recreating America’s founding fathers favorite recipes in A Taste of History. The show is in its fourth season nationwide on PBS and will launch on cable network RLTV in November. In each episode, Staib travels to significant colonial locations and cooks authentic regional dishes. Staib creeps through the halls of a haunted Jamaican plantation great house, walks vegetables gardens with President James Monroe, rides with Paul Revere and more. He voyages to learn the origins of some of America’s favorite flavors that became well loved in the colonial era and remain popular. A trip to Malaysia reveals the history of catchup, while a jaunt to Jamaica shows island influences with curries and fresh fruit, and a journey to Guyana tells the tale of rum.
Chef Walter Staib is a world renowned chef, the proprietor of City Tavern Restaurant in Philadelphia and author of four cookbooks.