Destination Flavor: Japan

Somewhere in there between the wax of The Fieriesque and wane of Bourdainism, the Food network went completely off the rails, or so it seems to those of us that haven't paid for terrestrial cable since South Park was hittin'.  In contrast to whatever it is that FN is putting out, Destination Flavour: Japan, a 2013 offering from Australia's SBS ONE is a real goddamn palette cleanser. 

This thing is as relaxing, meticulous and Japanese as the cutscreens on a golf video game, and might share a soundtrack with one.  Australasian yuppie Adam Liaw is so downright pleasant as a host that one might forgive him his man bun.  I don't recommend watching his cooking demonstrations while stoned and on a special soy sauce and vinegar-free diet as I did.

Destination Flavour Japan 1 Hokkaido by DemonPreyer1

A youtube recommendation led me to that show, which had popped up in the sidebar of this very different but equally superlative food survey- Hamburger America.  The interest items here are more largely sociological, as the premise "Americans put weird shit on hamburgers" thins after the first few symmetrical segments.  In it I learned that yellow fat means that beef is grass fed and therefore it won't "harm ya" from a Texan longhorn cattle rancher-cum-burger-chef along with many other meatwad-related knowledge jewels.

That documentary was brought to my attention by Mark Ibold in his Lucky Peach recipe for "Butter Burgers", which are... well, they are THIS:

You got that?!  They are THIS!: