Class and social status in the kitchen and 'The Bear'

CHICAGO — “The Bear” is the story of a workaday Chicago sandwich joint switching gears to become a fine dining establishment. But restaurant kitchens of all types are an ecosystem where class issues play out. It’s a hierarchy that inevitably says something about social status. How well — or not — does “The Bear” tackle these themes?

Tribune TV critic Nina Metz talks with the Tribune’s dining team; the following has been edited for length and clarity.

Food critic Louisa Kung Liu Chu grew up in her family’s restaurant on Chicago’s Northwest Side and is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Paris. While in Paris, she worked at the restaurant Les Ambassadeurs. She has also spent time in the kitchens of Alinea and El Bulli, among others, and was nominated twice for a James Beard Award for her restaurant criticism at the Tribune. (In an earlier life, she was a fixer for Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” TV series.)

Food reporter Ahmed Ali Akbar joined the Tribune this year with a wide range of experience in audio, culture and food writing. He began covering American Muslim food culture at BuzzFeed and BuzzFeed News a decade ago and has written mostly about halal and immigrant-owned businesses. He won a James Beard Award for feature reporting in 2022.

Nina: The Berzattos & Co. are working class, but Carmy’s professional achievements have put him on a different plane. That got me thinking more generally: Even though some chefs have formal training, it’s not a precondition. Working at a high-end restaurant may be one of the few jobs with status and prestige that doesn’t require academic credentials. Are kitchens a rare meritocracy where a path for class mobility exists … or is it more complicated than that?

Louisa: Much more complicated! It depends on where, as in what country, but generally speaking it should come as no surprise that I was one of the few women cooking in world-class kitchens, and one of the fewer people of color. And even now as a critic, where I carefully consider questions of equity and justice, it’s still hard to find fine dining restaurants run by diverse chefs. And that’s not for a lack of merit, but opportunity and privilege.

Ahmed: As a reporter, what I know well is family-owned halal restaurants that have little to no interest in fine dining. In that smaller slice of expertise, the kitchen isn’t really a meritocracy where you can rise up the ranks by skill. In my experience reporting on restaurants that are more similar to the Bear, many chefs/owners are starting to understand they need to acknowledge their cooking staff’s contribution to the menus, at least. Importantly, there’s a clear division between ownership and labor.

Nina: Louisa, in economic terms, do you think chefs at this level come from a variety of backgrounds? Do chefs from upper middle class or wealthy families have a leg up in this world?

Louisa: Some variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, but not much. I mean, it costs real cash money to be able to travel around the world to work or stage for no or low pay. Or live in a big city or remote area, where there’s a destination restaurant. And upper-middle-class or wealthy families or high-net-worth individuals themselves always have a leg up in this world, as we know! It’s not always as evident when you’re all wearing the same uniforms and doing the same work. Not until your chef friends invite you to visit them at their parents’ villas.

Nina: I think the show is hit-and-miss when it comes to thinking about class issues and credentialism. I really liked the episode this season that reveals how Tina came to work at the Original Beef of Chicagoland. Despite her real-world experience, she keeps running into one brick wall after another on her job hunt because she doesn’t have a college degree. Whereas Mikey doesn’t even bother to look at her resume! What did you guys think of that storyline and how it tackles some of these ideas?

...continued

swipe to next page