(JTA) – Jewish culinary talents like Michael Solomonov, Joan Nathan and Michael Twitty are coming together to partake in the inaugural Great Big Jewish Food Fest from May 19 to 28. The festival is free for participants and consists of workshops, happy hours and Shabbat dinners led by other well-known Jewish chefs and food writers, including Shannon Sarna, who edits The Nosher. 

“Not a single person we’ve asked has said a flat out ‘no,’”Jeffrey Yoskowitz told the Forward. “Everyone has said ‘I’m in, I want to be part of it.’” Yoskowitz is on the team helping to produce the festival alongside Liz Alpern, his co-founder of Gefilteria, a Brooklyn-based company whose focus is reimagining Old World Jewish foods. The festival is supported by several foundations, including the Jewish Food Society, Mazon and the American Sephardi Federation, among others.

Leah Koenig, author of The Jewish Cookbook, will lead a cooking class dedicated to Roman cuisine. She told the Forward that she was “heartbroken” to see gigs that she was excited about vanish overnight. “While nothing quite replaces face-to-face interaction,” she said, “I have been consistently amazed at how intimate the virtual events and cooking demos I’ve led over the last few weeks have felt.”