Grantland’s Andy Greenwald described Anthony Bourdain’s job as a judge on the televised cooking competition The Taste as someone “defanged like an aging circus lion” though he also expressed his hope that Bourdain’s latest series, Parts Unknown, “will be excellent”. Greenwald’s optimism was not off the mark as Parts Unknown debuted this month and provided a much-needed boost to CNN’s weekend ratings.
On the next episode of Parts Unknown Bourdain visits Colombia, a country he first visited for his previous travel series, No Reservations. “It’s inspiring, when you’ve gotten used to the notion that some problems probably won’t ever be fixed in your lifetime, to see some of the very worst kind of seemingly insurmountable problems so quickly and effectively improve,” he said about Colombia in 2008.
Bourdain’s latest visit to Colombia was somewhat controversial when he claimed to have been “misunderstood” when he tweeted a photo of him posing with two young soldiers. Nevertheless, Bourdain recently praised the country as an emerging “vacation wonderland” and urged viewers to “put aside the stereotypes” related to drugs and violence.
The following video clip from Parts Unknown is a look at Colombia’s national sport: tejo. Tejo is a hybrid of shot put and horseshoes where competitors toss rock-like pucks roughly twenty yards to a target embedded in a raised board filled with clay. As seen below, tejo is a traditional pastime often enjoyed by Colombians as a popular recreation:
The Colombia episode of Parts Unknown debuts tonight on CNN at 9 p.m. ET. An upcoming episode on Peru is scheduled to air on June 2nd.
“Sobredosis de TV” is our occasional look at television programs focusing on Latin America and Latinos. It’s also the title of a song from the legendary Argentine rock group Soda Stereo.
Video Sources – YouTube via CNN and CapitanArgentario
Online Sources – Travel Channel, Grantland, El Colombiano, Eater, CNN
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