A nostalgic comfort meal, inspired by “The Bear”

You can tell a lot about a person based on their feelings about Hamburger Helper.

This is coming from someone who never had it until recently, and only out of my loyalty to testing the dishes that I write about and, well, “The Bear.” Every season of that show features a must-try culinary treat or five for the foodies in its audience.

For its fourth, flavor-seekers turned their attention to the shelf-stable dinner kit favored by yesterday’s working moms, thanks to the episode titled “Worms.” This is the one where Ayo Edebiri’s Sydney Adamu visits her cousin Chantel (Danielle Deadwyler) to get her hair braided, but ends up teaching Chantel’s 11-year-old daughter T.J. (Arion King) how to class up a meal that comes in a box.

Syd doesn’t find Hamburger Helper in her cousin’s kitchen, though.