Despite the growing popularity of cooking competition shows like Masterchef and The Great British Bake Off, no scripted shows so far have been able to capture the realities and pressures of working in a professional kitchen.

FX on Hulu’s new show The Bear, which just got renewed for a second season, attempts to do just that – and succeed, at least according to the chefs that make up a significant portion of its fanbase.

The show follows Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), an award-winning young chef who leaves the disciplined kitchens of the Michelin-star restaurants where he made his name to run his family’s restaurant in Chicago after his brother’s untimely death.

He embarks on an adrenaline-filled mission to whip the business his brother left behind into shape, constantly faced with chaos, accumulated debts and his own grief.

With his unresolved trauma simmering, he hires ambitious sous-chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and together they attempt to instil an ounce of the military discipline they both learned in culinary school into the unruly kitchen staff – dreamy pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce), stubborn line cook Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), Somalian immigrant Ebra (Edwin Lee Gibson) – and restaurant manager Richie (Eben Moss-Bachrach), who is himself consumed with grief over his best friend’s death.

If you watch TV to unwind, The Bear is not for you. In its eight half-hour episodes, the show captures the claustrophobia and anxiety of working under immense pressure, with enough shots of ticking clocks, pots boiling over, stoves catching fire, knives on the floor and spilled broth to convince.

Developed with a professional chef as a consultant, the show has sparked a mounting fanbase online, with many people working in the restaurant industry saying its commitment to realism can make it a very anxiety-inducing watch.

At the same time, it speaks for what’s beneath the surface, illustrating how underlying grief and rage can manifest when things come to a boiling point.