Feature. Genre: Drama. Written by Tahara Lopez

Logline: In 1970s LA, Mexican American Lucia Delgado must find balance between opposition from her mother, a malicious head chef and rumblings from the Chicano Movement, if she wants any chance at making in the culinary world.

Summary:  It’s1971, and Lucia Delgado works as a simple cocktail waitress but dreams of becoming a professional chef. When she receives news that she has been accepted to the Los Angeles Academy of Culinary Arts (LAACA), her activist brother, Rafael, and grandmother vocalize support while her mother disapproves, advising her to get serious and join her in cleaning houses.  On the first day of class, she is targeted by the vicious and sharp-tongued instructor, Chef Hugh. He informs the class that he will nominate two students at the end of the semester to participate in a county-wide competition, where the winner receives an apprenticeship at a top-rated New York restaurant.

Receiving constant harassment from Chef Hugh, protests from her mother and urging from her close friends to join the Chicano movement, Lucia struggles to stay afloat.  She realizes if she wants any chance of being able to “succeed”, she must set her culture aside and center herself around the European cuisine that is being demanded.  It pays off, as she is nominated for the competition, but is met with concern about her assimilation from those close to her. After being racially targeted at work, she is fired. Not long after, Chef Hugh tries to make a move on her, and she quits LAACA. Lucia is forced to join her mother in cleaning houses. Tired by her powerlessness, she joins Rafael at a protest, where he is killed by a police officer.

Feeling defeated, Lucia spends her days cleaning and after being offered her job back, waitressing. However, after a visit from Chef Hugh and receiving her mother’s blessing, she decides to return to LAACA and participate in the county-wide competition.  She ultimately ends up winning the competition with an authentic Mexican dish but passes on the apprenticeship in order to stay closer to her family and culture. In the epilogue, we see a now older Lucia working as an instructor at LAACA and encouraging a new generation of students to embrace their culture.

To read the full script, contact Tahara Lopez.
Email: tahlopez@chapman.edu

Phone: (507) 316-7223