Estômago: A Gastronomic Story by Marcos Jorge

Raimundo Nonato came to city by bus. He was penniless but his instinct to survive did not fail him. He walked into a gloomy local restaurant and ordered a coxinhas to feed his hungry stomach.

He washed dishes and cleaned up kitchen as the payment for the coxinhas. The owner of the restaurant, Zulmiro, even let Nonato sleep in the storage room and offered him a job in the kitchen, but without wages.

Nonato turned out to have a nature talent working in the kitchen. The coxinhas he made was much better than his master's, transformed the gloomy restaurant into a local favorite.

He survived all right. His talent was soon recognized: first by Iria, a fille de joie, who loved to eat; and then by Giovanni, owner of an Italian restaurant in the neighborhood, who came by to check out why the restaurant became so popular.

Iria became Nonato's love interest, while Giovanni became the new master, willing to teach and pay.

For Nonato, what awaited him was hardly a happy-ever-after. It was quite the opposite--he was put behind bars. Why he ended up in prison was concealed to the audience until the very end. One thing was certain though: his instinct to survive remained to be strong, or was sharpened even by the harsh conditions created by his fellow inmates.

Estômago, which means stomach in Portuguese, takes a humorous look at the adult world through a seemly simple-minded cook, who uses his talent to survive. It's a film that all the aspiring cooks wouldn't want to miss.

See also:

• Official Site (English)