I ate at a North Korean restaurant two times while living in Shanghai. This was a state-sponsored North Korean restaurant, as opposed to North Korean restaurants operated by Korean immigrants, which I've also had.

It was a mix of traditional North Korean food such as nangmyeon (cold noodles), really good kimchi from Pyongyang, and a few other things, and some really pyrotechnical dishes such as live lobster sashimi, a deer tartare, and grilled dog meat. They had an interesting selection of alcohols, too: really potent soju from Pyongyang, and some crazy stuff like fur seal penis alcohol and viper alcohol. All the waitresses wore the traditional hanbok dress, and they did some songs and dance. They were cheerful and friendly.

I didn't speak Korean but I spoke Mandarin, and so did the waitress. I had a chance to chat with a girl from North Korea, which I found very exciting. She asked if my girlfriend was my "lady," and she was very interested to hear what I thought about China. I asked her if she liked it here, and she said she did although she missed home. She said she found it shocking to see so many beggars, and how dirty things were in general.

Now, she was probably not at liberty to chat as much as she would have liked, and I realize that by living abroad she's clearly part of the ideological elite of the DPRK. Still, it was nice to let that aside a moment and chat with another human being.

A friend from South Korea was with us, and they were very nice to him too. My friend says he could understand their spoken Korean, but that it sounded very old-fashioned; a bit like Shakespearean English would sound in the middle of New York City.

The girls were excited to see my girlfriend and I loved kimchi, so they gave us a bunch of it to take home. It was delicious, and I was really excited to have North Korean kimchi in my fridge.

I love to learn about North Korea and I'm a food nut, but this article was very frustrating to me. It's written in a very sensationalist tone, like the dude survived extreme danger to bring us morsels of information about life in North Korea. The reality is so much more boring... He took an expensive and very safe state-sponsored tour out of Beijing (probably Koryo Tours) and ate tour food.

Now, if you've ever been on a tour anywhere, you'll understand how little this has to do with real food or even food attitudes. For instance, the food being more bland than in South Korea just means they know most American tourists choke on the merest hint of a chili. (And may I add... South Korean food really isn't as spicy as the dude makes it out to be.)

Furthermore, of course the tour is state-sponsored and represents the DPRK's efforts to put up a positive face. But to call it "propaganda food" is just crass sensationalism.

Had to read it just because I was asking myself: Isn't 'North Korean tourist' an oxymoron?

Incredibly interesting read. Thank you for sharing.

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