Ilja Sarro | 00:13:00 | United States
English
KosherSoul, recipient of a Silver Telly Award, chronicles the intense two-day creation of a groundbreaking, first of its kind pop-up dinner led by culinary historian and author Michael W. Twitty at Post & Beam, a Black-owned restaurant in Baldwin Hills. Bringing together a diverse team of chefs of color, the film follows the physical and emotional labor required to transform a non-kosher restaurant into a fully kosher kitchen while preparing a historic communal meal rooted in African American, Jewish, and diasporic culinary traditions.
Rather than presenting a conventional documentary narrative, the film unfolds as an observational portrait of collaboration, craftsmanship, and hospitality under pressure. Through exhausting prep work, ritual koshering, shared problem-solving, and moments of reflection inside the kitchen, the popup becomes more than a culinary event — it becomes a temporary space where people of different backgrounds work side by side toward a common purpose. The chefs’ conversations about ancestry, identity, spirituality, and community emerge naturally from the labor itself, grounding the film in lived experience rather than abstraction.
At the heart of the film is Twitty’s exploration of “KosherSoul”, inspired by his award winning book of the same title, as both cuisine and philosophy: the idea that food can carry memory, spirit, and human connection. As the chefs and diners gather across cultural, racial, religious, and geographic boundaries, the film captures an intimate vision of hospitality as a form of bridge- building. Set against the realities of segregation, gentrification, and social division in Los Angeles, the popup offers a fleeting but powerful example of what community can look like when people come together around the table.
Cast
Michael W Twitty
