The Bearhas brought the world of fine-dining into the mainstream,and one of the world’s best chefs, René Redzepi, believes the FX series is now one of the greatest shows ever made. As well as holding three Michelin stars and running the renowned restaurant Noma (voted five times as The Best Restaurant in the World), Redzepi has lent his kitchen out on several occasions toThe Bear’s production, and even found time to make acameo in the show’s third season.
MovieWeb sat down with René Redzepi to discuss his new food documentary,Omnivore, whichstreams on Apple TV+ in July. During the conversation, the chef described his experience working on FX’sThe Bear, and detailed how that surprise cameo actually happened. Redzepi revealed he knewThe Bear’s crew years before the show was ever conceived, and is a long-time friend of chef-turned-actor Matty Matheson. Redzepi explained:
“I mean, being a part of The Bear is, like, fairly easy for us because we’ve known them for so many years. I mean, Matty Matheson and the crew, we’ve known them way before The Bear was even a thing. I didn’t even know about The Bear before it was out and people started texting me; ‘Hey. You’re everywhere in this show. What’s going on?'”
Set in a Chicago sandwich shop, The Bear follows Carmy Berzatto, a young professionally trained chef who returns to take over his family business after the unexpected death of his brother. At odds with many of the shop’s employees due to his culinary training, Carmy struggles to maintain order and keep the shop from failing entirely. Jeremy Allen White stars as Carmy alongside Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Ayo Edebiri.
Redzepi’s restaurant, Noma, is mentioned in the show’s pilot episode as one of the places where Carmen Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) trained. The restaurant features more heavily in season 2, when Marcus (Lionel Boyce) travels to Copenhagen and trains under Chef Luca (Will Poulter). Redzepi then makes a small cameo in the show’s third season. But he never planned on appearing in the show. That was untilMatty Matheson gave him a persuasive nudge.He continued:
“And then they actually shot here three weeks before the show finished. And I was sitting having burgers with Matty, and he’s like, ‘René, we need you on there. Tomorrow morning, we’ll just film you watching the plate.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay. We’ll do it.’ And so it was like a 10-minute commitment, honestly. And the day before was a 2-3 hour commitment from the crew.”
Rene Redzepi Compares The Bear to HBO Classic The Wire
It’s safe to say thatThe Bearhas become a cultural phenomenon.Over three seasons, the show has won 10 Primetime Emmys, and numerous other accolades, as well as inspiring audiences worldwide to take up cooking. During the conversation, Redzepi bestowed perhaps the highest honor the show has received to date, being compared to HBO’s seminal series,The Wire. Redzepi said:
“I feel like The Bear is like, when I grew up, and you watch The Wire. And The Wire was the best show on Earth. The Bear is The Wire of our time. And while some of it is fiction, or a lot of it is fiction, the restaurant industry can be a very, very tough place to be in.”
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Community star Joel McHale explains how that cameo in The Bear actually happened.
ButThe Bearhasn’t just inspired people to start cooking, it’s also resulted in some dedicated fans traveling the world to explore the show’s shooting locations. Redzepi described an interaction with a young man he had just days before our interview, who was wandering the streets of Copenhagen finding the locations ofThe Bear. Redzepi said:
“We have people that come to our restaurant - young 22-year-olds. The other day, this young 22-year-old, he’s walking down the path and I’m saying, ‘Hey. Can I help you?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah. Is this where they shot The Bear?’ He tells me. He doesn’t care at all that it’s a restaurant. He just wants to follow in the footpath of The Bear.”
Rene Redzepi’s new series,Omnivore, takes audiences around the globe, exploring the history, life cycle, and impact that seven different ingredients have on our society. The series is co-created by Matt Goulding, who produced the seminalAnthony Bourdain: Explore Parts Unknown.
Omnivorestreams on Apple TV+ on July 19.The Bearis available to stream on Hulu.
