Working in a kitchen is not an uncommon job, but those who’ve experienced life in ‘the thunderdome," know the stressful environment of a kitchen. Hulu’s seriesThe Beargets almost every aspect of that life correct, from the kitchen terms like, “yes, chef” and “hands” to the chaotic and fast-paced environment that sometimes feels impossible to keep up with. Moreover, the show amazingly depicts the ups and downs of work in a professional kitchen plus the mental health struggle and substance addictions that many real-life cooks face.The Bearstars Jeremy Allen White as Carmy, a culinary trained chef, inheriting a small restaurant from his older brother following his suicide, and working with a colorful cast of characters to keep the business running while coming to terms with his own trauma and grief.
The show gets a lot of it right. The stress. The sense of urgency.And the anxiety. If you’re someone that’s worked in a professional kitchen, this show would probably cause you a good deal of anxiety from the way it immerses you so deeply into the kitchen. Of course, what sticks out the most and is done beautifully is the crafting ofThe Bear’s characters. In a real-life restaurant, you will almost always meet unique, and sometimes odd, groups of people from all walks of life. The characters feel real. They’re weird and from many cultures, but most importantly, they move like cooks, especially the characters Carmy and Sydney, the only ones to have received culinary training. Creator ofThe Bear, Chris Storer, wanted to make sure he showed the culinary world in a realistic light. And the way this was achieved was by the intense training White and Ayo Edebiri, the actress who played Sydney, needed to endure in order to prepare for the show.
Intense Kitchen Training
AfterThe Bearwas released on Hulu and received massive praise for its depiction of the restaurant industry, White toldUpRoxx, “Before the pilot, we had a fair amount of time to kind of rehearse and be in that space. Ayo and I went to a two-week kind of crash course in culinary school.” Both actors attended the intense two-week bootcamp at ICE’s Los Angeles campus, where they learned knife skills, the movement in a kitchen, and the basics of working in a kitchen. This was to ensure they knew just about the same things someone who went to culinary school, like their characters did, would know. Plus more, considering that White suffered a lot of wounds while training, but learned that those scars were usually worn with pride for many chefs.
“They were very nervous but very respectful of the craft of our industry,” Chef Cyril Kabaoglu, theICEchef that trained the actors said, “they gave exactly what I’m looking for in students, they gave a lot of seriousness, and they wanted to do the best job they could.”
After their time at the culinary school, both actors went to work as line cooks in restaurants. White himself worked in restaurant in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, one of which was Michelin-starred restaurant Pasjoli in Santa Monica, which had him working with Chef Dave Beran, who worked in Chicago before. Through this, he was able to learn about the restaurant scene in Chicago from Chef Beran. White mainly did prep at Pasjoli during his month-long time there, but in his last couple weeks, the actors was given the chance to work the line on a Thursday night, which is usually the first busy night of the week for restaurants. When talking toEntertainment Weeklyabout Pasjoli and Chef Beran, White said, “He’s a really serious guy, very good at what he does, and he let me spend a lot of time there. He let me cook on the line during busy nights. It was pretty incredible that they really let me in.”
At the end of the long training period, White came out of it with the skills needed to play Carmy without the need for a hand double to come in and do the chopping for him. But he also left with more respect for those who work back of house and who go to school to turn that into a career for themselves.
Related:7 Shows Like The Bear to Watch Next
Pro Chefs On-Set During Filming
Even when all the training was done, the cast was still getting help with portraying their characters and getting the dance between cooks right. Canadian celebrity chef Matty Matheson worked as a co-producer and played a role on the show as Neil Fak, the restaurant’s handyman, who funnily enough has no idea how to work in a kitchen. The showrunners were able to get notes from him through his stories that also helped White better understand his character. Of course, besides just helping with realism for the show, Matheson also created some ofseason 1’s mouth-watering dishesfor the show. Storer also brought in his former chef sister Courtney Storer as culinary producer. With Matheson, the two chefs were able to help guide the cast in the right direction and verify White was on-point in his role, while also training the cast on how to make the dishes in the show.
