SALMA HAYEK PINAULT - FOOD & FAMILY MAKE FORA FELIZ NAVIDAD!

WITH A NEW CHRISTMAS MOVIE AND JOYFUL TRADITIONS, THE ACTRESS AND PRODUCER GETS READY TO CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAY SEASON

- ERIC ANDERSSON

Salma Hayek Pinault feels just as home in the kitchen as she does in front of (or behind) the camera. And when the holiday season rolls around, rest assured the Oscar-nominated actress and producer is simmering, stirring or sautéing something on the stove right alongside her mom, Diana Jiménez Medina. Making holiday meals, you could say, is her love language. “My mother and I have never not cooked for Christmas,” the Mexico-born actress says. “Cooking is a way for families to come together.”

Food and family play big parts in El Sabor de la Navidad (The Taste of Christmas), the new Spanish-language movie (now streaming on ViX) that Hayek Pinault, 57, produced through Ventanarosa, her multiplatform production company. The ensemble drama follows three intersecting stories: two best friends working as Santa Claus impersonators for the season; a demanding chef taking on an eager new assistant; and a transgender woman reuniting with her family for the holidays after a long time away.

For Hayek Pinault and José Tamez, 58, her producing partner of nearly 25 years, films like El Sabor represent their long “good fight” to tell modern, meaningful stories about the Latin community. “Festivities based on family and tradition and childhood nostalgia, they’re universal,” says Hayek Pinault of the film. “But we took that and modernized it. That’s what sets it apart as a Christmas movie. It feels very ‘today.’”