In North Korea, a country where having enough to eat has been far from guaranteed for decades, food has long been political, a reality being borne out again as burgeoning cooperation with Russia transforms people’s diets.

During the Arduous March famine of the 1990s, the DPRK experienced a so-called potato revolution when official propaganda attempted to shift dietary habits and place the humble famine substitute at the top of the food pyramid, largely unsuccessfully.

Under Kim Jong Un, North Korea has pushed to restore rice to the center of national cuisine. Images of rice consumption have overwhelmed state propaganda, such