the food-trembling zoom-in

Ok, one thing that becomes obvious after living here for a while is the Japanese obsession with food and television. Many people have written about this, and now I'm joining the chorus, "What is the deal?"

In Japan, television is mainly composed of an endless series of "variety shows", which are like 3-4 hour talk shows, where Japanese personalities are put together to discuss a random topic, such as, "cute" animals, heartbreaking stories, world records, makeovers, ghosts and strange occurrences, places to travel to, etc. However, the "food" topic is obligatory in every show every time. No matter the theme, somehow, they manage to "segway" onto the subject of some particular food or dish. Since I can't understand the Japanese on the television all the time (those of you that speak Japanese know what I mean), I can only imagine the one-two-liners:

"wow, those elephants are adorable...and they're so big, they must eat so much FOOD...and now today's plate..."
or
"wow that must have been so tough losing her mother at such a young age. Oh yes, and supporting herself, cleaning, cooking...and now let's look at today's recipe..."
or the easiest..
"Oh yes, that Paris travel itinerary is a must for all of you traveling this season. And you must enjoy the "blah blah" at "blah blah" restaurant..and now for today's dish..."

Anyway, so next comes the obligatory historical perspective or origin. From where the food originates, the prefecture it is specialized in, and where you can get it (and here comes the advertisement for (blank) restaurant in (blank) prefecture). Next, a couple of Japanese personalities are shown traveling to "some distant place" in Japan. Panoramic views, streets, and a zoom in on the restaurant. They meet the humble owner of (blank) restaurant, where they enjoy some small talk and a story about how they came to prepare the food they do. Then, the personalities are given a sample dish where their facial expressions and rounds of "mmmmm, aaaa, oishi desu yo ne, kore!" (it's so delicious) makes you feel like the Japanese have finally figured out a way to stew clouds, rainbows and hearts in a fish stock soup. That may sound disgusting but fish stock is everything here.

The next part is key, and probably what most people that know what I am talking about are picturing in their mind; the obligatory zoom-in of some dish, oozing and dripping in all it's glory. And when I say zoom in, I mean you can maybe see the grains of salt used to season it. Maybe even/plant/animal cells. So close that the food trembles in the grip of the chopsticks of some poor soles' unsteady hand. (And by poor sole I mean, his/her sole job in the show is probably holding up food to the camera lens...) The "zoom in" is the quintessential element to make it a Japan TV food clip.

Whatever comes next is less important. And don't get me wrong, I think all the information is really interesting--yes the prefecture and the historical origin, etc. But why is it on everyday, all the time? It doesn't only happen on the variety shows either (and btw there are multiple food sessions per variety show) but on the news, on live shows, documentaries, etc. It's all the time. 24 hours a day it seems. Every time I turn on the tv, I can count maybe 10 seconds before some food zoom-in pops on the screen. And if I wanted to watch the food channel all the time, which is perfectly fine if you chose to, I would subscribe to the food channel. And I love food. Trust me. But what I don't like is the fact I'm dying for some custard at 3am because I happened to turn on the tv (for whatever reason) and there's some custard zoom-in, glistening in all it's deliciousness, AND there's no way for me to get custard at 3am...in Japan. It's like if you want to be hungry and crave stuff all the time, turn on the TV.

So there it is. That's my beef (pun intended) with the the Japanese food-trembling zoom-in.