What Do North Koreans Eat to Beat the Heat?

July 18th was Chobok, the first of the Sambok,
or three hottest days of summer. As the summer heat starts to grow, Koreans
have traditionally sought revitalizing foods, which are said to energize tired
bodies and incite appetites. In South Korea, the most common foods for this
task are samgyetang (made with
chicken and ginseng) and dog meat soup. North Korea is no different.

Chosun Central News Agency released an
article on July 13th last year entitled, “The Three Hottest Days of Summer and Foods for
Revitalization in North Korea.” It reported, “With the start of Sambok upon us, many restaurants are
serving customers foods to revitalize their bodies and increase their appetites
against the heat.” The article went on to give an explanation of the
superiority of these foods.

It introduced the origins of the word
“bok” in Sambok (“Sam” meaning “three”), saying that it comes from the Hanja [Chinese]
character meaning “to lie face down because the summer days are so hot that
even a frog cannot endure it, lying flat with its stomach stuck to the humid
earth.”

This is not the first time that KCNA and
other North Korean media have discussed dietary matters. “Dog meat has a
variety of different vitamins including Vitamin A and B. It aids in digestion
and helps one recover from exhaustion,” a post on the message board of the
Choson Sinbo, the publication of Chongryon, proclaimed in August of 2006.

Looking back further still, KCNA said in an article in August
2005, “Sambok Season: Dog Meat Soup”, that dog meat is good for protecting the
body and guarding against illness, and praised it for its suitability to fight the
heat. “If you mix millet rice in with the dog meat soup, the heat will be
subdued and symptoms of weakness will disappear as well,” it explained.

There’s even a saying in North Korea about dog
meat soup, one article noted: “Even spilling the broth of dog meat soup on your foot during Sambok is good for your health”.

Steamed chicken is another a popular food for
revitalization in North Korea. This dish consists of a chicken cut open,
stuffed with milk vetch root, sticky rice, ginseng, and black soybeans, and
cooked in an iron pot. The ingredients are similar to
samgyetang, but because the chicken is steamed, there is no broth.

A dish similar to samgyetang (but cheaper) is boiled rabbit. The rabbit
is stuffed with chestnuts, dates, black soybean, and milk vetch root. This dish
was popularized as a revitalizing food starting in the 1970s as part of North Korea’s
“Kid Plan”.

The “Kid Plan” was a movement where, under
the pretext of constructing a socialist country and contributing to prosperity,
children were pressed for a rabbit pelt every year, which was then used to
generate foreign currency. Each child was assigned a certain number of rabbit
pelts to bring to school. Because all that was demanded was the pelt of the
rabbit, people would cook and eat the rest of it and make broth from its
bones. 

Of course, there are many North Koreans who
struggle to live day to day, and these people cannot even think about eating the dishes above.
However, such households cook other kinds of revitalizing food instead.

Yujigo is one such food. A simple product, it is made with
a kilo of sticky rice, five hundred grams of oil, ten eggs, and ten kilos of
sugar. The ingredients are mixed together and left to boil for twenty-four
hours, after which one tablespoon is eaten per person, three times a day. North
Koreans believe that eating yujigo prevents colds all throughout the winter.

One defector told Daily NK, “Being sure
to eat revitalizing foods during Sambok
season is one thing all Koreans have in common. North Korean women work hard to
make sure their husbands get to eat revitalizing foods. The most well-known
food for revitalization is steamed chicken, but different regions have
different specialties.”

“There
are dog meat soup restaurants popping up all over Pyongyang,” he added. “But in rural areas of North 
Korea families typically raise rabbits, because they don’t cost much. I think that’s why boiled rabbit has
become a popular dish.”