My grand tour of the new channels in my expanded HD lineup continued last night with the Travel Channel HD, which was airing something called Steak Paradise. (If there were a religion that named its afterlife Steak Paradise, I would join that religion.) You wouldn’t think that meat is something that benefits from high definition, but you would be wrong. From the Philly cheesesteak (the Cheez Whiz is so yellow!) to the steakhouses of Texas (the char is so black!) to Brooklyn’s own temple of meat, Peter Luger (the blood is so red!), I realized that I had not really seen a steak on TV until I saw a steak in HD. Who can pick up the marbling in a wagyu filet in standard definition? Indeed, the more basic-cable HD I watch, the more I realize that food porn may be the genre that benefits most from HDTV.
Apologies to the vegetarians in the crowd, by the way. I’m sure that Salad Paradise is very pretty too.