“The Kitchenistas®“
How Food Traditions Lead to Better Health
“The Kitchenistas” is a full-length documentary film created by filmmakers Executive Producer/Producer Mary Ann Beyster and Director David Romero. The film is about women advocating for healthy food traditions to change communities and transform lives. Olivewood’s Cooking for Salud® program began as a 7-week nutrition program for women seeking healthier diets, and has transformed into an 8-week program that feeds into the Olivewood Kitchenistas program – a Latina-led movement to raise the health, wellbeing, and resilience of the community.
As a result of systemic inequities, National City has one of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in San Diego County and in the state of California, and the Cooking for Salud graduates, “Kitchenistas”, are out to change that.
By the end of 2020, there are more than 275 Kitchenistas and a 1-year plus waiting list. The Kitchenistas are community builders, teaching healthy food traditions and advocating for high-quality food in their homes, schools, city, and beyond.
The feature film is an expansion of the award-winning short film, The Kitchenistas of National City, that aired on PBS/public TV stations for four years starting in 2016.
The feature film follows the 16th Generation through the now, 8-week course and focuses on the personal journeys of several early-generation Kitchenistas from mid-2019 through 2020.
The Kitchenistas film received the national Public Media Award (PMA) in the Independent Producer category with 400+ airings on 100s of PBS/public TV stations across all regions of the U.S.. The film was selected by 10 film festivals, received 4 festival awards, and has screened to audiences across the U.S., in MX, and globally. It continue to screen annually, and is streaming now on Apple TV and other digital platforms found here.
Film screenings: Festival Latino, Casa Gallina-CDMX, Fleet Science Center, England -virtual, Wyoming, Cal Poly Humboldt.
UCSD Food Justice and Community Health with
The Kitchenistas of National City
Watch the Film or Request a Screening