Kim Jong-il’s Porridge
In search of edible plants and grass, Mrs. Song would set out with a kitchen knife and a basket to the northwest of the city center, to an area that had not yet been covered in concrete. If she went higher into the mountains, she could sometimes find dandelions or other treats that were eaten even in better times. Occasionally, she came across rotten cabbage leaves discarded by farmers. Mrs. Song gathered all of this and added it to the food she had purchased. She could afford a cheap type of cornmeal made from husks and cobs. If she couldn’t afford that, she would choose an even cheaper powder made from pine pulp, often mixed with sawdust. Her culinary skills were of no use because everything still tasted awful. Mrs. Song had to endlessly chop grass and knead bark to make it into an edible pulp. She couldn’t shape it into anything resembling real food, no dumplings or cakes. At best, it turned into a shapeless, odorless mush. The only seasoning was salt. Mrs. Song couldn’t afford even a bit of garlic or pepper to mask the disgusting taste of the food. Oil was impossible to obtain at any price, and it was hard to get by without it in the kitchen. One time, her sister’s sister-in-law offered her a porridge made of beans and whole corn. Even though Mrs. Song was hungry, she couldn’t swallow it. The small pieces of cobs, bitter and dry like twigs from a bird’s nest, stuck in her throat. She choked, turned as red as a beet, and then spat it out. She was ashamed.*
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of grass (preferably dandelion or any other available greens)
- 1 cup of cornmeal made from husks and cobs (or, in a more budget-friendly version, pine pulp powder)
- 1/2 cup of finely chopped tree bark (if available)
- Salt to taste
- Water (enough to create a thick porridge)
Preparation:
- Gathering Ingredients:
- In search of edible plants and grass, head to areas that haven’t been covered in concrete. Dandelion is ideal, but other herbs will work as well. If available, you can also add rotting cabbage leaves or other discarded vegetables you might find.
- Preparing the Grass and Bark:
- Thoroughly wash the grass and any plants you’ve gathered. Chop them finely with a knife. The tree bark should also be finely chopped and kneaded to make it as digestible as possible.
- Cooking the Porridge:
- In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Add the chopped grass, bark, and cornmeal (or pine pulp powder, if using). Cook on low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens into a shapeless porridge. Add more water as needed to reach the desired consistency.
- Seasoning:
- Add salt to taste. Unfortunately, during times of crisis, other seasonings like garlic or pepper were hard to come by, which could have masked the unpleasant taste of the food.
- Serving:
- Serve the porridge hot, ideally immediately after cooking. Even though the taste may be unpleasant, this is a dish.
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.
