North Korean media in the age of Kim Jong Un has borrowed many genres which have long been common on TV channels worldwide, but which had until recently remained conspicuously absent in the DPRK.

One of such recently introduced genres is culinary TV shows, and considering how complicated North Korean mass culture’s relations with food have traditionally been, it is difficult to overstate the importance of this innovation.

THE FOOD OF HEAVEN

When Kim Il Sung formulated his idea of a socialist paradise, he resorted to the peasant’s image of prosperity: “a bowl of meat soup with rice, silk