Porridge Made from Beech Bark with Hogweed and Amaranth
Porridge Made from Beech Bark with Hogweed and Amaranth
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of beech bark flour (obtained by drying and grinding the inner bark of a beech tree)
- 1/2 cup of chopped hogweed leaves
- 1/2 cup of chopped amaranth leaves
- 3 cups of water
- Salt to taste (optional)
Preparation:
- Preparing the bark flour:
- If using fresh beech bark, dry the inner bark and grind it into a coarse flour. You can also use pre-prepared beech bark flour if available.
- Cooking the porridge:
- In a pot, bring water to a boil. Gradually add the beech bark flour, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.
- Once the mixture thickens, reduce the heat and add the chopped hogweed and amaranth leaves. Stir well to incorporate the greens into the porridge.
- Simmer the porridge on low heat for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bark flour is fully cooked and the greens have softened.
- Seasoning:
- If available, add salt to taste. Traditionally, this dish was eaten without seasoning due to scarcity.
The regime of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) is considered by the Western world to be the most totalitarian system in the modern world. Satellite images show this communist country as a dark, unlit spot. The lights began to go out in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The failing economy and corrupt system fell into darkness. Power plants collapsed, and starving people stole pieces of copper wire from electrical poles to trade for food.
In the 1990s, North Korea experienced one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our time. The famine, which lasted from 1995 to 1999, was referred to as the “Arduous March.” The regime’s propaganda campaign invoked a tale from the time of Kim Il-sung, depicting a struggle against thousands of enemies in minus 20-degree weather, in heavy snow, and with hunger, but with a red flag. Suffering was ingrained in patriotic behavior, while the word “famine” was banned because it suggested government failure.
People began to eat grass, and tree bark ground into flour became a popular food item, available in illegal markets. Human meat also appeared. When the food distribution system collapsed, people displayed incredible ingenuity in finding food. They learned how to make inedible plant species edible. Nets for catching sparrows were hung on balconies, and homemade traps for small animals were constructed. Desperate people searched for undigested corn kernels in animal droppings. They also learned to extract rice grains and other edible materials from the sludge scraped from the floors of port warehouses where food products had been stored.
Hunger became a tool of punishment and a means to eliminate political opponents of Kim Jong-il, who were imprisoned in labor camps where they quickly died without food. Regions where support for the regime was deemed low were deprived of food supplies. Foreign food aid was seized by the state and distributed according to political criteria, such as rewarding behavior promoted by the regime.
Despite the catastrophe, North Korea’s highest officials lived in luxury, importing goods from China and Europe. Hundreds of forced laborers worked in many countries around the world, and their wages financed the lavish lifestyle of the Korean Workers’ Party.
Nearly 2.5 million people died, and the average life expectancy decreased by 6-7 years.
Since 2018, there have been reports of economic troubles in the country, along with related hunger and malnutrition. The situation has been worsened by restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and severe sanctions imposed on North Korea due to the lack of agreement on nuclear weapons. The authorities have provided guidance on what citizens should eat in the absence of basic products, promoting turtle meat and pheasant hunting.
