Many popular Hong Kong and Mainland films and TV shows have used Macau as a backdrop, but the latest original Macau-made TV series, Taste of Love hopes to take viewers beyond the city’s glamorous locations to explore its rich history, folklore and culture instead.
Taste of Love is an original locally-produced TV series by director Oliver Fa, which premiered in early May. With just three episodes, the series uses the unique flavours of Macanese cuisine to evoke memories and narrate a cross-cultural romance.
Cuisine is an indispensable element of the series, and one of the main characters in the story was inspired by the director’s mother and her cooking skills.
“When the Portuguese sailed to Macau in the 16th and 17th centuries, they passed by Africa, India, and Southeast Asia, collecting many spices and gradually integrating local cooking methods to create Macau’s unique cuisine,” says Fa.
The intermarriage between the Portuguese and various local communities, including the Chinese in Macau, led to the unique combination of ingredients, dishes, and cooking methods which today characterise Macanese cuisine.
Taste of Love centres around a young woman’s search for a recipe for Portuguese style seafood rice called ‘Eternal Flower’, created by her grandfather.
Many years ago, a young man from Portugal, Vincent (played by Kelsey Wilhelm) visits Macau to work as chef at Macau Government House. Here he meets a young local woman, Fa (Adela Sou) and they develop feelings for one another and have a fleeting romance. Eventually though, Vincent decides that he needs to return to his family in Portugal. Before he leaves he creates the ‘Eternal Flower’ dish to commemorate their relationship. However, Fa is distraught that Vincent is leaving and tears the recipe in half.
Years later, Vincent’s granddaughter Lucía (Joana Soares) is living in Portugal and becomes curious about her family history. She travels to Macau to learn more about her grandfather and his ‘Eternal Flower’ recipe. Here she meets a local chef by the name of António (Guilio Acconci), who happens to be the son of Fa, whom her grandfather once fell in love with.
And thus ensues a tale of self-discovery, love and friendships across time and cultures, connected by the flavours of Macanese cuisine.
“We hope that the characters resonate with local people,” says the director. “In the movies and TV shows produced in the west, we are often just the supporting characters, while in the local ones, foreign characters are also usually supporting roles; it seems to be a long-standing tradition,” notes Fa, himself from a mixed-race background. In this series however, he hopes to blur such boundaries, especially geographical and ethnic ones.
The two leading actors in the series, Guilio Acconci and Joana Soares for example, are both from families with mixed ethnic backgrounds, and have lived in Macau since childhood. They are both fluent in Cantonese and can also switch seamlessly between English and Portuguese, a linguistic talent common to some people in Macau.
“Although I am different from the character in the sense that I am actually from Macau, I can relate to her journey for self-discovery,” says Joana. “As a person with a very third culture upbringing, I have struggled with identity my whole life and I think I was able to explore that aspect a little with Lúcia. Those emotions of feeling just a little ‘lost’ but still hopeful that she will eventually find her answers and sense of ‘home’.”
In telling this story, the production team hoped to present Macau as more than just a city of casinos and tourists, but to highlight local characteristics to showcase a multi-layered Macau.
“We hope we can also portray the unique charm of Macau and it’s people,” Guilio Acconci says.
A major challenge for any local production is promotion and distribution, but fortunately for the director and his team, local broadcaster TDM provided a lot of support in presenting the series to local households.
Indeed, the creation of this series was no accident. Fa’s team stood out as a talented group in the inaugural TDM TV Drama Screenplay and Production Contest last year, winning the award for ‘Best Screenplay’, competing against 14 other entrants. They were awarded MOP790,000 which they used to bring the series to reality.
Despite the challenges for local productions, Guilio believes that developing local stories and dramas for the screen is not impossible.
“We want to change the narrative that ‘You can’t do this in Macau!’” he says. “Working on this production has got me to start dreaming, why not Macau? Why don’t we do something? And then the next step is for the local audiences to feel the same. We can definitely produce quality content in Macau, so I think this is another series that we should be proud of.”
Acconci has taken part in filming in various regions including Hong Kong and mainland China, and notices a subtle difference when working in Macau with a local crew.
“There is a real sense of human warmth here, which is very special, so I hope more production teams from other regions will come here to work and have the chance to feel it too.”
“I know for sure this is just the beginning for Macau’s TV and movie production industry,” adds Joana. “Honestly I couldn’t be more excited about it as it’s something I always manifested and dreamed of. People used to say Macau was definitely not the place to develop a career in acting or cinema, but I am so excited that that is slowly changing and I am more than honored to be part of that history. Macau has so much talent and people who are passionate about film and acting. We just need to be given the opportunity and the trust and we can take it to new levels.”
Kelsey Wilhelm also agrees: “There’s such an amazing talent pool in Macau, and perhaps because it’s such a small market the artists put themselves into the projects wholeheartedly – never complaining about early mornings, long hours or obstacles to overcome. That forges a bond on set and means that you always have friends on the next project. My co-actor Adela Sou was incredible at setting the emotional tone of the scenes, which made my job easy. Overall, I think that the results surpassed expectations and I hope that this encourages more investment in local talent and artistic productions.”
Adela played the role of Fa and admits that working in the film industry is not as glamorous as people might think.
“When you go through the trials of this industry and see what it’s really like, you might sometimes question whether you really want to continue. The true brilliance is not just in the moments on screen, but in the unwavering persistence of all the cast and crew after seeing the show become a reality.“
