KosherSoul

KosherSoul, recipient of a Silver Telly Award, is a documentary short that chronicles the intense two-day creation of a groundbreaking, first of its kind pop-up dinner led by culinary historian and author Michael 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.

Chef Michael W. Twitty

presents

- The Plate is Your Flag -

As he embraces the full mosaic of his identity,

a Black Jewish chef sparks moments of unity through the meals he creates.

Director Statement:

Bringing his literature to the dining table, connecting people - bringing people together on a deeper level, is something my dear friend, Michael W. Twitty is quite familiar with.

For KosherSoul [the pop-up], he assembled a diverse team of predominantly Black-Jewish Chefs, who worked hard in tandem to create the shabbat/cookout experience Chef Twitty envisioned, using recipes from Twitty's self-explorational book of the same title, and drawing a diverse audience into a historically Black Los Angeles neighborhood.

With KosherSoul [the film] I didn't want to tell someone else's story. I wanted to let the chefs tell us their perspective, their excitement - how they connect, what they feel, what this event means to them. With Chef Twitty leading the conversation, I aimed at capturing the hard work; the passion; the love, and yes - the very Soul that went into two long days of creating this first-of-its-kind cultural and culinary dining experience, that brought so many people together.

Michael Twitty's deep historic knowledge of the African-Jewish diaspora was the seed that grew from the pages of his book into a vibrant evening, filled with friendly strangers who gathered, and who shared tables and food, and stories, at a time where division and separation touches every community.

This documentary doesn't do the hard work these Chefs put into making this event happen justice.

What is does offer is a glimpse into the two days of strategizing and juggling prep work, cooking multiple courses, and serving two seatings back to back in one evening. It witnesses the joy and excitement the Chefs experience, some of which had just met for the first time.

- Ilja Sarro