Local cooking show, “Maria’s Portuguese Table,” thrives nationally on PBS

DARTMOUTH — In 2021, Portuguese cookbook author and food blogger Maria Lawton went national on PBS with her show “Maria’s Portuguese Table” — which has now paved the way for an exciting 2022.

“It has been really humbling and beyond anything I ever expected," Lawton said, while reflecting on 2021.

Best known for her Azorean Green Bean food blog and cookbook “Azorean Cooking: From My Family Table to Yours” — Lawton premiered her cooking series on PBS in 2019.

Cineasta Digital Productions, led by Emmy-Award winning cinematographer Dean Camara, the only Portuguese-themed cooking series stars Lawton as she shares family recipes. She travels around New England, the West Coast and Sao Miguel, a Portuguese island in the North Atlantic, experiencing the culture and cuisine.

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In Spring 2020, she was nominated for a New England Emmy for Outstanding Program-Host/Moderator.

Now available nationwide through PBS and Create TV, Lawton's eight 30-minute episodes have now premiered all over the United States.

"I've gotten comments from Seattle, Colorado, the Midwest, Florida, upstate New York...," she said. “It was coming from everywhere. I was really thrilled."

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Lawton said she was frequently told that people didn't know about the Azores until watching her show. "It felt good to know I introduced people to that."

According to Lawton, her first quarter numbers (also referred to as a carriage) were higher than most shows that have been on the network for several seasons.

She is now working on a 10-episode second season, which she hopes to start filming in the Spring. She says she wants to feature more Portuguese festivals as well as return to the Azores.

Traveling with Maria Lawton

Lawton was born in Sao Miguel. She and her family moved to the South End of New Bedford when she was 6 years old. She now resides in Dartmouth with her family.

In October, Lawton took 30 people to Sao Miguel as part of the PBS Travel Club. In 2019, she was approached by the station to be a tour guide after she was personally requested by fans.

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“They had people calling the station going, 'We'd love to travel with her,'” she said with a laugh. Sadly, the trip was postponed due to COVID-19.

However, Lawton was finally able to make the trip happen. Traveling with a majority of couples and single guests ranging in ages 30 to 80, Lawton said the trip was about introducing people to the island for the first time.

"Besides two people who had been there before, when they were younger, everyone else had never been there," she said, "And only four people were Portuguese."

She said they mostly visited her favorite restaurants, specifically trying wines and other foods that rarely make it into American markets

“We literally ate and drank from one side of the island to the next," she said.

Lawton said one of her favorite experiences was taking the group to a farm where she filmed an episode for her show. Guests rode a wagon up a mountain to a cow field and helped bring them down for milking. “We were farm hands for a little bit," she added.

Lawton has another tour planned for April 2022.

Ignoring negative criticism

Before getting her show on PBS, Lawton said she faced non-stop rejection from friends and potential sponsors. One of the reasons, she said, was because she wasn’t a man.

Lawton was told that she wasn’t a trained chef and that a “male Portuguese cook” should be hosting a show on PBS.

Now, she says even with the success of her show, she still faces some criticism. "There are still those that say, 'Yeah, you did that. But what are you going to do now?'" she said.

Although she said she receives way more positive feedback, there are the occasional mean comments about how she talks and her physical appearance.

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“There's always going to be those that the pancakes can never be rounded," Lawton said. “It can never be everything to everyone.”

She said that she doesn't listen to those comments and never bases her decisions on that kind of feedback. "You're never going to make everyone happy… and I’m not going to try," she added.

"You just go OK, and you move on."

A 10-year plan

When asked about her goals for 2022, Lawton is already thinking all the way to 2032.

Lawton said she's finished her second cookbook and is doing final edits, but hopes to publish several others over the next few years.

She is optimistic that her cooking show will run for many seasons, too.

“As long as I am enjoying myself, and I find joy in what I'm doing, I will continue to do it," she said. "And when I don't, something else will be coming because I think for ourselves as human beings, we can reinvent ourselves as often as we would like.

"This is what I am doing and this is what I'm finding great joy in."

Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on twitter: @ChitwoodReports. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Dartmouth cook Maria Lawton works towards second season of PBS show