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The Bear is a phenomenon not only because exploring what goes on in the kitchen is fascinating, but because it’s also one of the best shows on TV when it comes to portraying family drama, generational trauma, and the intense pressure of being the best at something.
Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) is a tortured artist who might be one of the top chefs in the world, but his self-doubt is the engine that keeps the show racing along into uncertainty. Add in the precision and pressure of a high-end restaurant and brigade-style kitchen, and you have the perfect recipe for drama and humor. Plus, the opportunity to watch mouth-watering cuisine being created by passionate people.
If you’re searching for similarly satisfying fare, we’ve already told you the TV series you should be watching, but there are a lot of books, movies, games, and podcasts that share the spirit and themes of The Bear too.
The best books like The Bear
The Bear is a dense narrative with rich, detailed characterizations. In other words, it’s like a novel in TV series form. There are a lot of terrific books that will give you the same vibe.
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
If you love an insider glimpse of how high-end restaurants are run and have a true love for food, head to the ultimate classic of the genre. Bourdain’s 2000 memoir was a revelation, detailing how fine-dining kitchens actually operated, warts and all. It turned Bourdain into a star and is an obvious precursor to (and inspiration for) The Bear.
Unreasonable Hospitality, by Will Guidara
This book directly inspired many plot points on The Bear, and specifically informed the evolution of Richie’s character from an angry lout who disdained fine dining into a man with a purpose. The former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, one of the best restaurants in the world, Will Guidara writes about making every diner’s experience personal, memorable, and curated. If you want to know what drives Carmy and the gang to extremes, this book will explain it all.
Hot Mess, by Emily Belden
If you love The Bear because of the messy interpersonal dramas going on in the kitchen, check out Hot Mess, which offers up the perspective of the people afflicted by an unreliable, mentally unhealthy culinary genius. Allie Simon is swept away by the handsome, charming, and undeniably gifted chef Benji Zane—so much so that she invests her life savings in his new restaurant. When he relapses into addiction and vanishes a few weeks before opening night, Allie must undergo a crash course in the restaurant biz before she loses everything.
Sweetbitter, by Stephanie Danler
Love gulping down the inside dirt about the restaurant business in The Bear? Sweetbitter is the perfect chaser. It’s like Kitchen Confidential turned into a soapy story about a young woman who snags a job at an uber-cool restaurant in downtown New York City. She dives into the pressure, the drama, the drugs, and the culture, and the book offers the combination of revelation and personal struggle that fans of the show will love. (The TV adaptation is fun too.)
Last Night at the Lobster, by Stewart O’Nan
Is a Red Lobster in a New England mall the same as a fine dining restaurant chasing a Michelin Star? No, but the drama is just as high. This short novel about a manager trying to get through his final shift at the fast casual spot on the night of a heavy blizzard is filled with all the conflicts, chaos, and kitchen mishaps you could possibly imagine. The setting might be basic (though those Cheddar Bay biscuits are pretty amazing), but the story is just as entertainingly fraught.
The best movies like The Bear
If your biggest complaint about The Bear is that the episodes are too short, good news: There’s no shortage of movies that capture the frenetic world of high-end cooking and the misfits who work in it.
Big Night (1996)
This 1950s story of brothers and recent Italian immigrants to the U.S. trying to save their struggling restaurant on the Jersey Shore, Big Night is the spiritual precursor to The Bear. Beset by customers who prefer Americanized versions of their cooking and a big pile of debt, the brothers conceive a “big night” to pack the restaurant and make enough money to save their dream. The (often hilarious) pressure builds from there. Stream Big Night on Hoopla or rent it on Prime Video.
Boiling Point (2021)
Are your favorite episodes of The Bear the ones where things go horribly wrong in the kitchen and the pacing goes to lightspeed? Boiling Point is the perfect movie for you. Presented as a single, 90-minute take, it follows head chef Andy Jones (Stephen Graham) during a disastrous shift at his restaurant. It kicks off with a bad health inspection and gets worse from there. Bonus: If you like the movie, the BBC produced a single season of a sequel series with the same cast. Stream Boiling Point on Kanopy or rent it on Prime Video.
Chef (2014)
Less fraught and with a slower, cozier pace, Chef nevertheless hits all The Bear‘s sweet spots. When chef Carl Casper quits his job at a successful restaurant after a social media meltdown and a clash with the owner, he opens a food truck to get back to his foodie roots. If you love the idea that a passion for cooking can save (or destroy) your soul, check it out. Stream Chef on Netflix or rent it on Prime Video.
Burnt (2015)
If your favorite aspect of The Bear is Carmy’s tortured genius, Burnt is a great way to spend a few hours. It’s the story of Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper), a superstar chef in Paris with two Michelin stars who destroyed his career through addiction and by generally being a terrible person. After sobering up, he heads to London to make a comeback and get a third star—but he still has a lot of work to do on himself. It’s breezier than The Bear, but still filled with self-sabotaging drama. Stream Burnt on The Roku Channel/Howdy or rent it on Prime Video.
Hunger (2023)
If you like stories about haunted, talented people pushing themselves to their limits, check out this Thai gem. Aoy (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) is the cook at her family’s struggling street food restaurant. When she’s noticed by a recruiter for the impossibly high-end restaurant Hunger, she’s invited to develop her skills there—and she finds herself in a high-pressure nightmare that will remind The Bear fans of Carmy’s time under Chef David. Stream Hunger on Netflix.
The best video games like The Bear
Do you find yourself dreaming of how you’d handle the physical challenge of The Bear’s setting—the precision of the plating, the flipping, stirring, and sauteing of ingredients, the balance of the servers? You’ll enjoy replicating that feeling with some of these games with Bear-ish tendencies.
PlateUp!
Want to feel the adrenaline rush that comes with running a restaurant, but don’t feel like scrubbing dishes amd prepping veggies all night? PlateUp! is a restaurant management simulator that actually gets the heart pumping. You can set up your joint any way you like, but if you disappoint a single customer (because they waited too long for their food, for example), your restaurant fails. You can earn upgrades, but with them come extra challenges, and as more people show up for dinner, the gameplay becomes extremely sweaty.
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Steam
Overcooked!
If you want even more intense restaurant play, grab some friends and check out Overcooked and Overcooked 2. In a series of increasingly strange settings, you and your friends have to Iron Chef your way through demanding food orders, cooking everything exactly as specified while avoiding obstacles and traps. The graphics are delightfully cartoonish, but the gameplay is frenetic, and there’s no better way to experience the thrill of working a kitchen in perfect unison without actually starting your own restaurant.
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Steam
What do you think so far?
Cooking Simulator
Want to experience what it’s like to be a master chef like Carmy, able to create intricate meals on demand? Cooking Simulator is a physics-based game that replicates cooking in a realistic way, challenging you to make nearly 100 different recipes. You can play in Sandbox Mode whipping up impromptu meals, or go for Career Mode and try to become a world-famous chef, balancing the cost of ingredients against your craft. Bonus: Pick a fight with your partner before playing for that true The Bear experience.
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Steam
Recipe for Disaster
Was the first season of The Bear your favorite because of Carmy’s uphill battle to save The Original Beef of Chicagoland while battling the weirdos who worked there? Then check out Recipe for Disaster, a gamified version of Kitchen Nightmares. You’re tasked with saving a series of failing restaurants. You get to choose who to hire, the equipment, and the decor—but you also have to keep your workers from having nervous breakdowns, all while cooking recipes to order and keeping your customers happy.
Platforms: Steam
Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon Game
Want to experience Carmy’s journey from a messed-up kid who likes to cook, to a messed-up, world-famous chef who hates his life? Check out Chef: A Restaurant Tycoon Game. You start as the owner and chef at a small, unremarkable restaurant; the goal is to become a world-famous chef with multiple award-winning hotspots. Choose the cuisine and menus, develop your skills, and build your hotspots with a high level of customization—and then work yourself to death to make them successful.
Platforms: Steam
The best podcasts like The Bear
The world of The Bear is impressively detailed and intricate—but so much is left to interpretation, inspiring endless discussion. Podcasts are a great way to extend that experience, so here are some of the best to pop into your ears.
Let It Rip: The Bear ‘Cast
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Hosts Lucy and Peter devote each episode of Let It Rip to a single episode of The Bear, offering casual-but-serious analysis and digging into the details, the background information, and the culinary Easter Eggs in each one. It’s a fun, informative way to dig a little deeper and enjoy someone else’s perspective on the show.
The Prestige TV Podcast
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If you want a more refined and “professional” dive into The Bear, check out The Prestige TV Podcast’s episodes focused on the show. They’re tight, well-produced overviews that recap episodes and interview the people involved in creating an amazing piece of entertainment.
The Menu
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If watching The Bear inspired an interest in high-level cookery, The Menu will fascinate you. It digs into every aspect of the restaurant business, from the stories behind classic dishes, to interviews with famous chefs, to the development (and dysfunction) of the professional kitchens that serve up the best food in the world.
The Dave Chang Show
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If your fave aspect of The Bear are the moments when Carmy and Sydney discuss the food and the gastronomic magic that goes into it, check out Dave Chang’s awesome podcast. He wanders into a lot of different subjects, but always comes back to cooking, and his own firsthand experience as one of the most celebrated chefs in the country.
So You Want to Run a Restaurant?
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The Bear opened a lot of people’s eyes to what really goes into running a successful (or even an unsuccessful) restaurant. It’s an endlessly fascinating subject that this podcast delves into in detail, talking to chefs, owners, and other staffers about what goes into operating a high-end eatery—and what it really costs those who do it. So You Want to Run a Restaurant? will give you a whole new appreciation for the show, and possibly inspire a rewatch with a fresh perspective.
