Being a chef is definitely a tough job, what with the gnarly oven burns, the long hours and inconsistent schedule and demanding clientele. But you'd think that merely playing a chef on screen would be a cake walk. Apparently, that's not so, according to Emmy-winning The Bear star Ayo Edebiri. As the actress explained, there's a key downside to playing to such a gig, and it may just leave you surprised.
The actress has racked up a whole host of awards for playing Sydney Adamu, the ambitious young sous-chef working under Jeremy Allen White's Carmy Berzatto on the FX series (which you can stream with a Hulu subscription). The comedian previously opened up about the technical difficulties of filming the series, including that astounding one-take scene from Season 2, in which she had to memorize table numbers and recite menu items over and over again.
Now, she recently revealed to The Times (via The Independent) that the role has an effect on her personal life that's very specific to food. She said that due to the success of the series, she has been repeatedly asked to critique meals anytime she goes out to eat:
Sometimes I’m like, ‘Please can I just eat?’
One can definitely understand how that would be a bit awkward for the Bottoms star. Yes, she may play a skilled chef on TV, but that doesn't necessarily mean that she herself wants to continuously give her two cents on meals that are placed before her or others. But then again, her dedication and preparation for the role may be why so many choose to defer to her on food-related matters.
Ayo Edebiri told TODAY that to prepare for her role as Sydney, she trained at the Institute of Culinary Education in Pasadena, California. The actress, whose hands you actually do see during all of The Bear's knife-chopping scenes, tapped into her real-life experiences of working in restaurants:
I’ve worked in restaurants a lot in my life. Never in the kitchen, but waitstaff or hosting, reservations, and my first job was being a dishwasher. I understood, I think, the rhythm of how people spoke and the feeling of being in a kitchen, but never from the chef’s vantage point...It was kind of cathartic returning to a restaurant with less fear. I remember always being afraid of the chefs.
Her co-star, Jeremy Allen White -- snagged an Emmy and 2024 Golden Globe award this month for his work on the series—had his own difficulties in playing a chef on-screen. The Bear cast member Ebon Moss-Bachrach recently revealed to CinemaBlend:
[What Jeremy does is] very, very, very hard. I don’t know if I could do it. Just for him to, I mean, he doesn't speak so much, and he's very much the heart of the show. He's just so compelling. I mean, I don't even know, I think that's almost like a physiological thing. Something about, the way that Jeremy’s eyes are or, you know, I mean, to have that kind of magnetism internally is really is pretty…it’s something.
Ayo Edebiri actually said that her working relationship and close friendship with with the Shameless alum helped her with her own performance, telling The Times:
Jeremy is one of the most grounded, hard-working people I know. I would describe my friendship and relationship with him as just a lot of trust and a lot of gratitude...We shot this show without any expectation, and to be on this journey with him, with everybody, it really does feel like a blessing and so I call him family.
You love to hear about such a tight bond between co-stars, and it's lovely that they've supported each other through this endeavor. They find themselves in an interesting position right now, given that they're both not only playing chefs but starring on one of the most popular TV shows airing right now. Hopefully, Ayo Edebiri's experience on that front -- and when dealing with calls for her to critique food -- become even easier as time goes on.
We don't yet know when we'll see her and her co-stars back manning the burners on screen in The Bear's upcoming third season, but we'll keep our eyes peeled to the 2024 TV schedule!
