Soul Kitchen is a 2009 German comedy film directed by Fatih Akın, with a screenplay by Akın and Adam Bousdoukos. Bousdoukos based the story on his own experiences as the owner of a Greek tavern named “Taverna,” where Akın was a regular customer. Akın filmed the movie entirely in the Hamburg area.

Six-year-old Cenk Yılmaz is faced with the question of his identity when he is not voted into either the Turkish or the German soccer team at his German school. As the son of Ali, who is of Turkish origin, and his German wife Gabi, he does not speak Turkish.

At a family celebration, his grandmother Fatma announces that he has recently been naturalized in Germany, and grandfather Hüseyin explains that he has bought a house in his home village in Turkey that he wants to use as a summer residence. In order to renovate it, he decides that the entire family will go there for the holidays.