Exploring Jonathan Gold’s CITY OF GOLD with Doc. Filmmaker Laura Gabbert

Documentary CITY OF GOLD follows Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Jonathan Gold as he casts his light upon a vibrant and growing cultural food movement in the city of Los Angeles. Filmmaker Laura Gabbert shares the trailer and clips, and details getting to know the “culinary geographer” as he explores menus, strip malls and undiscovered neighborhood gems. Gabbert also discusses how Gold was able to contextualize a city through the use of his taste buds and musical influences in this episode of BYOD hosted by Ondi Timoner.

Guest Bio

As the unabashed cradle of Hollywood superficiality and smoggy urban sprawl, Los Angeles has long been condemned as a cultural wasteland. In the richly penetrating documentary odyssey CITY OF GOLD, Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold shows us another Los Angeles, where ethnic cooking is a kaleidoscopic portal to the mysteries of an unwieldy city and the soul of America.

Bombing through colorful neighborhoods in his green pickup truck, Gold is sniffing out his next strip-mall discovery—whether Oaxacan grasshopper soup, hand-cut tonkotsu ramen, or a particularly unctuous pad see ew. As piping-hot platters are served up, so are stories of immigrants whose secret family recipes are like sacred offerings pledged for the opportunity to build their American Dream. With eternal curiosity, razor-sharp intellect, and existential longing, Gold is a culinary geographer taking us where no critic has gone before.

Documentary director Laura Gabbert’s films include No Impact Man (2009 Sundance Film Festival), which the Los Angeles Times called “terrifically entertaining, compelling and extremely funny.” Her film Sunset Story (Tribeca and Los Angeles film festival prizes) aired on Independent Lens. New York Times critic Manohla Dargis wrote, “Sunset Story may break your heart, but it will also make your day.” Other credits include The Healers of 400 Parnassus (PBS), and the Sundance Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival feature Getting to Know You.