This article originally appeared on MUNCHIES in March 2016."You'll never catch North Koreans missing a meal by choice," says Simon Cockerell. This month, he will make his 150th visit to the hermit kingdom, so he should know.As general manager of North Korea tour specialist Koryo Tours, Cockerell, who is British, has regularly visited the country since 2002. As for any foreigner visiting North Korea, the areas he can visit there are strictly limited, and he and his tourists have to be accompanied by North Korean guides at all times. Still, his trips have allowed him fascinating, if restricted, insight into the country's culture and eating habits.
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North Korea's population was ravaged by famine from 1994 to 1998. And while the dictatorial regime of Kim Jong-Un keeps foreign eyes away from the country's poor, human rights groups regularly report starvation as just one of the problems the under-the-boot masses face in the world's most isolated country.
Even in the capital of Pyongyang, the city of the North Korean elite, memories of the famine strongly affect food culture. "Anyone over the age of 20 there has memories of living in a famine," says Cockerell. "As such, food is very important and the culture is culinary. People know that missing a meal is an extravagance that they used to not have, so they really go for it. There's no real concept of leaving food."Cockerell has eaten his way around the country for the past 14 years, garnering insights and Instagram photographs, posted under the @simonkoryo handle. I asked him to talk about the ten most interesting things that have passed his lips in North Korea.
Cold noodles with a soundtrack
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"Long noodles refer to long life, or a long time being married. Everyone at a wedding gets served cold noodles, and the idea that you would say, 'No noodles, thanks' would be exceedingly rude."Most North Koreans are mildly obsessed with cabbage-based kimchi, with the country's spicy version now recognised on a United Nations cultural heritage list.Simon: "If North Koreans can get hold of kimchi, they will eat it with every meal. It keeps well—it's made of simple ingredients and can be buried in the ground: an early form of refrigeration."North Korean kimchi is usually spicier than South Korean kimchi. My company has hosted lots of Koreans in China, and if they eat a few meals without kimchi, they get antsy."I know Koreans who worked in Mauritius. One said it was a paradise because they had cheap fruit and meat and lovely weather, but the worst thing about it was that cabbages cost so much there. It was all they spent their money on. But 'don't eat the cabbages' is an inconceivable thing to say to a North Korean."
United Nations-recognised kimchi
"Delicacy" dog meat
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"Most of the time what they offer to tourists is dog soup. It tends to be spicy and not have that much dog in it, and there are a few restaurants in Pyongyang that specialise in dog meat: dog ribs, dog steak."It's not the best taste, but if it's done right it's OK. It's fairly gamey and can be a bit heavy. I find it tough, but I have had tender dog meat."There isn't much culture of dogs as pets in North Korea. There are guard dogs and farm dogs, but you'd have to be pretty middle class to own a pet one."
Koryo burger: "worst food ever"?
Beer bought with ration vouchers
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"Taedonggang is now the most well-known beer in North Korea, named after a river that runs through Pyongyang. There's a beer ration—men get vouchers every month. This is not necessarily a nationwide policy, but is the case in Pyongyang. But you can buy more; the 'ration' just means you get given vouchers, rather than your consumption being limited."If you want a Taedonggang beer, you can go to a fancy bar and get a pint for two or three dollars, or go to a more proletarian place and get it for a voucher, or about 25 cents.
"Most beer-drinking establishments have low tables you would normally sit at, but with no chairs. Like in the West, you get drinking and banter in the bars, so in that way it's identifiable. Drinking pints, buying rounds, getting increasingly silly, a sing-song, the occasional spilling of a pint. Jokes, but not so much political humor."The Taedonggang beers have numbers for names: One is made of barley, water, and hops, and tastes good. Two is the most common, with barley, water, hops, and a bit of rice. Three is a 50-50 barley-rice mix. Four is more rice, and Five is rice beer. Five is repulsive."I was in this large bar called Kyonghungwan with a Belgian TV crew once. The crew wanted to film people, so we went to the table that had the most women."It turned out that a couple of them could speak English; they were obstetricians and gynecologists at a women's hospital. Classic hospital workers: They had just finished 16- to 18-hour shifts and were letting loose. They were the drunkest people there—lots of toasts. It's mostly men at these places. Women do go to bars, but never alone.
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Soju and "bumpkin" makgeolli
KHC: finger lickin' good potato chips
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"Because of this lack of brand recognition, there are not many obvious rip-off food brands in North Korea. In Russia, you often see the Golden Arches upside down and it triggers recognition, but in North Korea they would just think it's a big yellow 'W' that means nothing."I have seen some Costa Coffee–branded mugs in Pyongyang, but it wasn't at a Costa, just at some restaurant. They probably just got them from a wholesaler. No North Korean has ever gone there and thought, 'Ooh, they're serving Costa Coffee here!'
"They do have domestic production of crisps in North Korea, but you don't see many people walking around munching them. If you order them in a bar, they always cut off the packet top with scissors and pour it on to a plate to bring a sense of class."For snacks, people prefer dried squid, but mostly fish. Dried squid with mustard and soy sauce goes well with beer."
Western fast food (with a long wait)
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"At these 'fast' food places, the food isn't ready when you go in; they have racks behind the servers but never anything on them. A long-lasting meal is normal in North Korea and most Pyongyang people have a two-hour lunch break."You can find burgers all over Pyongyang now. If you had money, you could open up pretty much anything in the city, although you probably couldn't open a place called something like Uncle Sam's All-American Steak House. That might be a step too far."