The first and only food critic to win a Pulitzer Prize, Jonathan Gold has accomplished what many writers have tried and failed to do: captured Los Angeles smartly, democratically and as a whole. With a gregarious and ravenous spirit, Gold traverses the city’s taco trucks, strip mall counters and fine dining establishments alike, embracing and sharing the city’s culinary culture mash-ups and diverse cuisines with sparkling and mouth-watering prose. Nothing if not egalitarian in his approach, Gold sees Los Angeles as a world arena in which the sprawl facilitates the preservation of true local cuisine from immigrant communities, as opposed to a melting pot which encourages more “popular” genres of food. In this ebullient documentary, audiences meet today’s most influential and adventurous food critic—a man with a small ego and a big appetite.
Director Laura Gabbert and producer Lara Rabinovitch will participate in a post-screening Skype Q&A on Friday, April 1, at 6:15 p.m.