Yes, Chef: How 'The Bear' Perfectly Captures Life Inside Of A Restaurant

Jeremy Allen White is no stranger to Chicago. The actor just wrapped up a decade long tenure on the South Side where he portrayed the poverty stricken genius Lip Gallagher on the Showtime series, Shameless. While White is the first one to say being on a single show that long made him feel like he wasn't even an actor anymore, FX Networks' The Bear proves him dead wrong. Not only is White a great actor, but he was the best choice to capture the character of Chef Carmen Berzatto.

While a lot of people expected The Bear to be a snapshot of the city of Chicago and its food staples, like Italian beef sandwiches, the show actually brings a lot of sensitive topics to the table in regards to the restaurant industry. The show itself is almost like a filmed analytics project of how the industry sets up restaurants and chefs to fail. Not only this, but it takes a raw approach to how traumatizing the industry is to a lot of people who try to navigate it.

We are thrown right into the series as Chef Carmen (aka, Carmy/Bear) tries to keep his family restaurant, the Original Beef of Chicagoland, afloat after the suicide of his brother. The transition from a James Beard Award-winning chef to a cook dangerously in debt to vendors, the IRS, and family members is a whirlwind. He's resented by the staff and his pseudo cousin, Richie, but he remains determined to fix the restaurant. This determination brings viewers through thrilling and stressful shifts where he hires a new sous chef, Sydney, and transitions the existing staff into French-style "brigade" dining roles. He also confronts his financial problems head on and tries to do what most independent restauranteurs do - he trades favors for a reduction in debt. That is after he sells vintage clothing and gifts from his late brother just to buy meat and make payroll.

Sounds pretty inspirational, eh? I think it's safe to say if your anxiety wasn't elevated after the first episode, you've never worked in food service.

Toxic Masculinity Is A Bitch

It is important to mention that all of this is at the center of a very male-dominated industry. Anyone who has ever worked in food service knows that leadership is cruel, shifts are long, and criticism can be brutal. You also know that kitchens are full of testosterone and toxic masculinity. The way that Carmy struggles to keep The Beef operational with the techniques that traumatized him is a prime example of how restaurants are set up to fail. It also lends a look into how men, specifically Gen X and Millennials, have been forced to work through their fight or flight in order to survive the trauma they're experiencing. The show unapologetically shows us this, especially after he hires a younger sous chef. A sous who just so happens to be a woman.

It is no secret that female chefs have to enter the industry with a tooth and nail attitude because they have a lot to prove. After all, 77.5% of chefs worldwide are men. Sydney walks into The Beef as a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and is almost immediately hazed by her new colleagues. Her prep is hidden, the heat on her pans is turned up, and her cooks show her no respect after she officially assumes her role. Carmy's simple dismissal of the hazing as "having to pay your dues" is the raw restaurant trauma that is perpetuated and passed down.

It's pretty messed up how Carmy can excuse that same behavior happening under his command, but that's how he navigated fine dining. That's how he worked at Michelin Star restaurants. He was molded in a world where the only correct answer you can give is "yes, chef." The concept of abandoning everything he endured to try and start fresh with a female chef who comes up with solutions instead of firing a gun into the air or yelling at a vendor threatens his industry-driven masculinity. We love to see the growth in Carmy throughout the series as he faces his trauma and his grief, but it is a long road to get to that point. As the series goes on, we discover how Carmy's experiences even in the best restaurants in the world led to him having nightmares, anxiety induced hallucinations, chest pains, and vomiting before every shift. These experiences aren't exclusive to Carmy, however, as we learn that Sydney suffers from similar PTSD.

It Isn't Just War Vets Who Suffer From PTSD

What elevates the argument for The Bear being so realistic is the feedback from those in the industry. Former pastry chef of Eleven Madison Park, Riley Redfern, couldn't make it through the first episode. Other chefs, such as Chopped winner Alix Baker, refused to watch the show after seeing the trailer because it too closely represented the environment she chose to leave. Chefs are taking to social media to share their stories of how they've also had nightmares like Carmy about leaving a burner on, or expediting food to the wrong table, or over ordering products, or having the whole restaurant go up in flames. On the surface, it can seem like it's just a TV show grossly exaggerating the anxiety and stress that comes with cooking, but the critical response validates the PTSD a lot of industry veterans carry with them.

The pandemic has changed the restaurant industry as we know it and a lot of chefs chose to move on from brick and mortar spots. COVID-19 itself was a motivating factor for some, but the trauma that chefs were faced with after being away from the kitchens for a while is another. People miss the family they make in restaurants and the safe space it provides for a lot of people, but more recent generations don't accept traumatizing, toxic environments like previous generations have. We don't want to vomit before clocking in. We don't want to wake up screaming in the middle of the night from a nightmare where you're having food thrown at you or leaving a burner on too high. And we most certainly don't want to be insulted and beat down every second of the day - especially by our mentors telling us we'd be better off dead than cooking that steak.

While most movies and TV shows glamorize the restaurant industry, The Bear chose to show the more gritty side of what professional cooking is. The show pulled back the curtain on the emotional and physical price you pay to work in a kitchen, and it exposes the raw emotion that comes with it. There is a lot to love about restaurant life and we all love seeing those beautiful plates, but a lot of people don't get to see what actually goes on behind the scenes. The Bear gives us that and it will be interesting to see if the show is renewed for another season. Will the trauma continue to haunt Carmy, or will the adventure beyond The Beef open a new opportunity?