Japanese TV foods

One thing I'm really curious about about Japanese food culture, is when they shoot the food kind of glamour shots. In the states, there have been documentaries about how often the food is doctored, or has makeup artists or how they use glue to make sure the pizza doesn't slide when you cut it. But Japanese shows often go to the restaurants themselves and they'll show how the food is made and then they'll show a shot of the food being picked up with chopsticks, then people consuming it. To me, that seems harder to fake, but then again, I never imagine they would use nail polish to make food look brighter and tastier!

Plus there's this idea, I think, that Japanese food is kind of "pure" in that sense - that what you see should reflect how the food really is. I don't know if Japanese people think the same way, but I do know that McDonald's burgers more closely resemble their ads here in Japan!

This TV show about food... they have this plant that looks like giant brussels sprouts hahaha. I wonder if these shows are like Good Eats (since they're showing where all the food comes from, giving a kind of cultural context for the food, then showing you how to prepare it complete with recipes, commentary, and guests). Ahhh they're showing this beautifully marbled steak rice bowl! It looks so. Tasty. But like I was saying before, they show you a shot of the top sizzling as it's cooking (I suppose you could maybe use a blow torch for that) but they showed a shot of the dish and then someone picked it up and ate it so...

Maybe it has to do with the Japanese aesthetic for beautiful food in the first place? I don't know, but I want to find out!

They're also showing someone's travel diary... It looks amazing! They drew pictures of all the dishes they ate with commentary and I'm so jealous of their drawing skills hahah...