A Pinch of Portugal

About the movie

Not formally trained but nonetheless a talented chef and foodie, Anna is the prep cook on celebrity bad boy chef Dean's successful cooking show. Despite his temperamental and exacting nature, he hired untrained her when he filmed the show once at her parents' diner, where she was the line cook, after firing his last prep cook for changing one of his recipes. When Dean takes the show on the road again, this time to Portugal, he goes missing in action due to the negotiations on his contract renewal stalling. With no other option in needing to continue filming while in Portugal, Hope, the producer, decides to put Anna in front of the camera, she to be the face of the show until Dean returns when they can splice his segments into the footage shot of Anna. Beyond not having the culinary connections as he does, Anna finds that she is not a clone of Dean, she having to find some other way to connect to the show's viewership. Nonetheless, this situation places Anna in a difficult spot regarding Dean, who may not take too kindly to her taking over his show, that is if he does return at all, which if he doesn't means everyone's job. In the process, Anna may find a new path in life as she knows that she doesn't want to be his prep cook for the rest of her life. Her personal life is also put in a tailspin as she makes a mutual connection with Lucas, the manager of the local public market and an aspiring restaurateur, that connection which may not sit too well with Russ, the show's Australian cameraman and her best friend who is seeing Anna in a new light after turning her down when she came on to him once at a work social function.—Huggo