The One Person on the Show Who's Actually a Chef

Fak wearing a headlamp after repairing another appliance

Loveable family friend and The Original Beef’s repairman, Neil Fak “Fak,” played by Matty Matheson, is the only real chef in the cast of FX’s “The Bear.” Matheson has his own clothing merchandise, cookbooks, and multiple restaurants, yet none of these achievements shine with the character he plays from the show. Matheson told Variety in an interview, “Acting scares the shit out of me… It’s, like, a lot of hard work. I spent hours trying to remember, like, four lines. It’s very nerve-wracking for me, personally” (Scorziello, 2023). Luckily, Matheson helps as an executive producer for the show to keep it authentic and help the other cast members where needed.

Alongside Courtney Storer, the show creator’s sister, Matheson advises “on everything from the build of The Bear’s kitchen to its menu” (Walsh, 2023). The two are also working though a discourse that is meant to reflect the relationship between Carmy and Sydney. Creating menu ideas and demonstrating the way chefs talk to one another was how Matheson and Courtney started asking the questions: where do these chefs come from? What are their unique techniques? What are the flavors? This led to rich episodes that focused on individual characters so we, as an audience, could start putting pieces together.

Vanity Fair uses two quotes from Matheson that capture the essence of “The Bear,” and what food means to him. He says, “There’s often an underbelly or a slightly deranged element to eating… we do crazy shit when we’re testing our limits, or when no one is watching” and, one of my favorites from the introduction to A24’s cookbook Scrounging, “Whether it’s the focal point of a scene, the butt of a joke, a symbol, or clues for a character’s backstory, food in film is about more than just caloric intake” (Walsh, 2023).