by partysugar

Food plays an important role in the film that got Penelope Cruz a best actress Oscar nomination, Volver. Raimunda, Cruz's character, receives food from her deceased mother and ends up running a restaurant in Madrid. The food in the movie, like that in the Spanish culture, symbolizes a sense of community, family, and tradition. Instead of hiring a restaurant or caterers to prepare the food in the film, director Pedro Almodovar recruited his two sisters to cook authentic dishes from his childhood in La Mancha. In the movie, Tortilla Española, perhaps the most common traditional dish, is paired with my personal favorite Spanish dish, Pisto Manchego (I like to eat my pisto the Andalucian way with a fried egg and French fries). For the recipes and to watch the trailer for Volver, read more