Are chefs becoming our new crushes?

There are those who can cook and those who can't even boil an egg, those who know how but hate being in the kitchen and wasting their few free moments from work and daily commitments, but most of us remain hypnotized like a hormone-crazed teenager in front of a skilled professional handling meat, vegetables, and various ingredients. Are you already distracted, imagining languid glances across the pans, strong arms emerging from uniforms, and hands massaging juicy fillets, moving in a vaguely erotic manner? That’s the effect of what some call the "hot chef summer", a period where it's not just the weather that’s heating things up, but rather the chefs (sorry, but for now, the focus is on the male universe) from TV series. We're obviously talking about Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto from The Bear and Gabriel from Emily in Paris.

Team Carmy or Team Gabriel?

Both are handsome, sexy, talented, charismatic, and complicated, with intriguing blue eyes and an irresistible charm. Both are in pursuit of excellence and a Michelin star. To achieve it, they have to juggle complicated relationships with two women, family, and the restaurant team. It’s hard to choose between the two. To play Carmy, Jeremy Allen White underwent weeks of culinary training and worked in several restaurants, including Pasjoli, a Michelin-starred one in Santa Monica, California. The result is a huge success that has given a positive boost to the actor’s career, as well as his personal life, so much so that he is rumored to be dating Rosalía. Have you ever seen the pictures of them strolling through flower markets? They’re definitely cute, but nothing compares to images of Allen White in his kitchen, constantly reinventing himself with new recipes. The character played by Lucas Bravo seems to have less rigor and discipline at work, continuously distracted by the women around him who vie for his love, Emily and Camille. He seems sweeter, a bit more romantic, and accessible compared to his American colleague, but is that really the case? It doesn't really matter because what counts is the dream, the crush that, fueled by scenes from the two series, forms fictitious but intriguing love stories during long summer days.

The Timeless Charm of the Chef: Anthony Bourdain and the others

The idea of chefs as a sort of archetype of the fascinating bad boy goes back much further than Carmy and Gabriel. It has to do with complicated personalities, with strong characters, who work with passion surrounded by fire and knives, with sweat dripping from their foreheads and down their biceps, and hands moving rhythmically over juicy peaches, blood-colored meats, and doughs to be vigorously kneaded. Moreover, they are often portrayed as eccentric people who live for what they love, namely food and cooking. They’re a kind of rock star, in some ways seemingly more accessible than stars like Harry Styles or Brad Pitt. The detail that, even on a subconscious level, knocks us all out? Seeing them cook awakens a paternal echo in us, giving us the impression that chefs are capable of taking care of us. They stimulate not only our senses but also our primal need for protection, care, love. So, how can we resist? Perhaps, we can't. Thus, in secret, we dream of Gabriel from Emily in Paris and Carmy from The Bear, of Adam Jones from Burnt and Hassan Kadam from The Hundred-Foot Journey, even of Remy and Alfredo Linguini from Ratatouille, but also of real chefs like Anthony Bourdain, Jackson Boxer, or Thomas Straker.