Hot chef summer is *officially* here. Season 3 of The Bear just dropped on Hulu and we are foaming at the mouth. And not just because the food looks good in every shot of the Emmy award-winning show. Jeremy Allen White as Carmy, Ayo Edebiri as Sydney, Will Poulter as Luca, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richie, Lionel Boyce as Marcus, and more are all just some hot, hot chefs.
In fact, many chefs on the screen are uniquely sexy. Here are a few hot TV chefs in no particular order: Anthony Bourdain, Lucas Bravo in Emily In Paris, Padma Lakshmi, Monica Geller in Friends, Michael Simon, the countless hot TikTok chefs, Kristen Kish, Guy Fieri, Manish Dayal in The Hundred-Foot Journey.
But what is it that makes people swoon over these chef characters and real-life cooks? And what is it that makes restaurant industry professionals go wild over each other?
While I am a casual enjoyer of The Bear who has never dated a restaurant worker in real life, I do have a few theories about why this show and industry appear to be super sexy.
1. They live that rockstar life.
Much like your fave indie rock band, TV show chefs like Carmy and Fak and real-life professionals such as the late Anthony Bourdain are covered in sick tats. And that bad boy persona… it’s definitely a thing. Frankly, being in the music industry and the restaurant industry aren’t so different. They both entail late nights, media interviews, and even fans. (Cigarettes are also likely involved in both lifestyles.) Just think: performers onstage and performances in the kitchen both require confidence and swagger that may be a turn-on. And many kitchens and concerts both have some good pyrotechnics, am I right?
In fact, Bourdain has the perfect quote that ties this notion together. “Good food does lead to sex. As it should. And in a perfect world, good music does too,” he said.
Even though Carmy, Sydney, Richie, and the crew aren’t guitar-slinging classic rockers, they do live life on the edge and that makes everyone want to say, “Yes, chef!”
2. Their attention to detail.
Not only are the chefs in The Bear well-versed on their salt, fat, acid, and heat combos, they also know how to perfectly serve each appetizer, entree, and iconic savory cannoli. This tweezed precision on the plate is the attention to detail that can make a gal like me swoon.
The meticulousness may seem intense to some, but for many, (shoutout Carmy fans), this might feel like an act of selflessness. After all, many chefs are known for eating straight-up peanut butter for sustenance when they’re at home, but they put so much care into your dish? HOT! As for those in typical heterosexual relationships, women may be down for a man who knows how to cook and carefully place fresh mint leaves on a powdered sugar-dusted dessert. That is a turn-on many didn’t know they had until they got to the pastry portions of The Bear.
Additionally, this adherence to perfection may seem like the chef has their life together in other areas. Do they keep their nightstand as clean as their kitchen countertops? Is their laundry as tidy as each carefully folded napkin on the high-tops? Are their hands as clean at home as they are in the kitchen? It 100% varies from chef to chef, but one can certainly hope.
3. The uniform.
There’s that old saying that notes, “Women love a man in uniform.” And no one ever specified what uniforms we’re talking about. Every chef in The Bear dons a stunning deep blue apron. (Or, if you’re Richie, you might be in a fancy suit for your staging gig.)
Uniforms, IMHO, can convey a sense of confidence and put-togetherness that is super attractive… even if it is accompanied by oil burns and accidental chef knife finger cuts.
A Reddit thread on r/KitchenConfidential details this perfectly: “There is something magnetic about a solid, confident line cook. A man that can run the sauté line like a dancer. There is a certain poetry, a choreography to running a hot line. It is a sensual, yet somehow aggressive and primal dance amidst fire and blades. Swoon. When someone can get it right, be it man or woman or non-binary beautiful creature, it is dead sexy,” user mintBRYcrunch26 says.
And hey, maybe if you do secure a hookup with a chef (real-life or actor portrayal), you can use the apron and a *clean* spatula for some fun.
4. They are super gritty.
In a small anecdotal friend poll, one former server described, “Ugh, line cooks are hot. They’re just greasy and dirty, but so hot. My last boyfriend [who was on the line] used to slip me little notes with pepperoni in it during shift since he knew I didn’t eat before.” She also described how it just felt nice to be able to sit back and know that the chefs would feed the servers and wait staff and not want anything in return. Straight up sexy, am I right?
The meme account @server_life documents life in the restaurant industry with horrifyingly accurate jokes, including ones about the front-of-house staff (servers and hosts) dating the back-of-house staff (cooks and chefs). Basically, many of their jokes focus on how opposites seem to attract when it comes to people on the floor and workers in the kitchen.
Clean-cut waiters can’t help but go for the gruff, older chef commanding the kitchen. Plus, undeniable bonds are created when you can laugh about the Karens who are ruining your night. Personally, I fall in love with each and every person who lets me spill tea. (Figuratively, not literally. Chefs hate spills.)