If you really hate Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader's massively over-the-top eating
habits will probably make you dislike him even more. From imported cheeses and expensive
liquors to fine wines and gourmet dinners, this is what Kim Jong-Un loves to eat and
drink.
The golden rule with Kim's eating habits is that if he likes something, he gorges on it
to an almost inhuman degree. Take Emmenta cheese, for example. This hole-riddled Swiss
cheese is best known for its sweet aroma, fruity flavor, and iconic appearance — as
well as the complicated process by which it's made.
Kim loves Emmental cheese, having likely picked up a taste for it during his school days in
Switzerland. In fact, he likes it so much that he had to step out of the public eye
in 2014 for health reasons, which, according to the South Korean newspaper Yonhap, was
an affliction of gout. Yonhap went on to report that Kim's gout was thought to be brought
on by his high-calorie diet, lack of exercise, and obsession with cheese.
"I can ignore the cheese.”
“Well, yeah…”
“Sorry, I can't do it."
North Korea's government has even been known to send representatives across the world in
order to better serve the state's cheese-producing infrastructure. In 2014, Pyongyang officials
visited a French dairy college in an attempt to secure more fine cheeses for their country
and their leader. Sadly, they were reportedly turned down. Oh, well.
Sushi has been a vital part of life in North Korea's upper echelons since long before Kim
came to power. Kenji Fujimoto was Kim Jong-Il's long-serving personal sushi chef, and says
he was Kim Jong-Un's friend and playmate during their childhood and teen years. He recalls
the younger Kim having an affinity for sushi made with torro, the fatty part of the tuna,
which is the same cut his father loved. Fujimoto told Mail Online:
"I used to make sushi for the General at least once a week, and Jong-Un always joined the
dinner. So I could say Jong-un liked sushi."
Fujimoto had arrived in North Korea in 1982 on a one-year contract to teach sushi-making
to Pyongyang chefs. He then agreed to stay on for longer, quickly becoming a close confidant
to Kim Jong-Il. After a few run-ins with Japanese intelligence agencies, however, Fujimoto eventually
fled the country. When Kim Jong-Un took the country's reigns in 2012, however, Fujimoto
was invited back for a visit — which would imply some kind of genuine good will towards
his father's former sushi chef. Either that, or he really liked his sushi. In a 2013 interview
with GQ, Fujimoto announced his intentions to return to North Korea for good, and in
2017 he opened a sushi restaurant in Pyongyang.
In 2015, shortly before his return to North Korea, Kenji Fujimoto spoke to the Daily Mail
about his future leader's eating habits. Recalling his 2012 visit to the country, Fujimoto explained
that he had attended a boozy, extravagant banquet, at which Kim Jong-Un was present,
giving some insight into the kinds of delicacies Kim prefers. Among other things, shark fin
soup was on the menu. Fujimoto explained:
"I poked a dish of shark fin a couple of times to gesture I was enjoying it, but I was very
tense and could not eat much."
Shark fin soup is an east Asian delicacy and one of the most controversial dishes in the
world, largely because its popularity has pushed some species of shark to the edge of
extinction. The chef revealed he had also eaten Kobe steak during the banquet too, one
of the priciest varieties of beef on the planet. To qualify as Kobe, the beef must meet a strenuous
list of different criteria, based on location, quality of meat, and weight restrictions.
It tends to cost around $150 per pound.
It's not just high-quality food that Kim enjoys gorging on. Import data released in 2017 revealed
that, in 2016, North Korea had imported just over $900,000 worth of Brazilian coffee into
the country for its leader and his entourage. And that figure was almost 12 times greater
than that reported in 2015.
"You know, this is, excuse me, a damn fine cup of coffee."
Brazil is generally regarded as being home to some of the finest coffee in the world.
Today, the country is the single largest exporter of coffee, with most of its stock shipping
to Germany, the United States, Italy, Japan, and Belgium. Brazil's rich soil and hot climate
make it an ideal environment in which to grow coffee, with some of the country's finest
coffees coming from its southern regions. It's not known exactly which brand of coffee
Kim likes to import, but some of Brazil's more expensive coffees tend to run up to $50
per pound. Other brands can cost as much as $500 per pound. Whatever Kim is drinking,
though, one thing is clear: He's drinking a heck of a lot of it.
Kim Jong-Un is no stranger to a drink or two. In fact, he regularly imports more alcohol
for his own personal use than most people will ever drink in their lives. In 2019, for
example, the Dutch port of Rotterdam seized 90,000 bottles of Russian vodka, which officials
believed were headed for Pyongyang. A ship belonging to a Chinese company called Cosco
Shipping was halted in Rotterdam on a tip from the Russian foreign ministry, and customs
agents discovered some 3,000 cases of vodka inside. The United Nations have previously
banned the export of luxury goods to North Korea, but over the previous two years, the
country had attempted to dodge international sanctions.
Allegedly, the vodka was supposed to be enjoyed by Kim and his military commanders. And although
this shipment didn't quite make it to Pyongyang, it's likely that many more reach the shores
of North Korea on a regular basis.
Not just the bubbly of choice for French connoisseurs, movie stars, and yacht enthusiasts, Champagne
is also a favorite amongst planet Earth's worst despots. Kim Jong-Un, of course, is
no exception. During his sit-down with the Daily Mail, Kenji Fujimoto revealed that Kim's
love of fancy booze has probably contributed to his ever-expanding waistline. Fujimoto
told the website:
"He drank a lot. His favorite was Cristal, usually about two bottles [in a sitting]."
Produced by the Louis Roederer estate, Cristal was created in 1876 at the behest of Tsar
Alexander the Second of Russia. Described by the estate as a remarkably balanced and
refined champagne, Cristal is known for its silky texture and fruity aromas. Perhaps more
importantly, however, it is also ludicrously expensive: Bottles regularly sell for well
over $100, with some larger formats going for upwards of $11,000. Considering the name
"Cristal" is practically synonymous with a lavish, extravagant lifestyle, it's not surprising
that Kim enjoys it so much.
Under Kim Jong-Il, North Korea allegedly spent around $1 million every year on Hennessy,
a brand of French cognac which costs about $630 per bottle in North Korea. For what it's
worth, that's more than most North Koreans make in a year. Kim the elder had often been
spotted drinking Hennessy at meetings and summits with world leaders, and it's very
likely that the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree. At the very least, it's not hard
to imagine there's still a little of his Kim Jong-Il's Hennessy stash left lying around.
Hennessy is one of the world's finest and largest cognac producers. Established in 1765,
the estate's product has been enjoyed by such historical figures as King George the Fourth
and Tsar Alexander the First, and has been drunk all across the world. Exactly how much
Hennessy Kim consumes on a daily basis is unclear, but the amount the country spends
on importing it would imply they bring in thousands of bottles every year. Even accounting
for his military attache, his entourage, and his personal friends, that's a whole lot of
cognac.
According to Kenji Fujimoto, Kim has a particular penchant for French wine — and once boasted
about drinking 10 bottles of Bordeaux in a single night. Although this claim did come
from a man who insists he started driving at the age of three, so you can probably take
it with a grain of salt.
Considering "Bordeaux" could mean any number of different wines, it's hard to gauge how
much money this would cost. A bottle of Bordeaux could easily sell for no more than a few dollars.
Equally, however, it could also fetch thousands of dollars; it just depends on which wine
estate produced it, and when. But let's face it — Kim probably didn't go for the cheap
stuff.
As for the "10 bottles in one sitting" claim? Well, a bottle of red wine tends to contain
around five glasses, meaning on that fateful night, Kim would have drunk around 50 standard-sized
drinks. For what it's worth, drinking only five glasses every week can knock years off
your life. The exact health effects on a human who manages to drink 50 glasses of wine in
one go aren't particularly well-known, however, largely because it'd be basically impossible
to do that without passing out.
According to a 2014 report by UK tabloid Metro, Kim regularly drinks snake wine — a popular
drink that includes a dead cobra in the bottle, which is thought by some to increase the virility
of the drinker. Kim's reliance on snake wine is said to have come from his desire, and
failure, to father a second child with his wife. In the report, a South Korean expat
explained:
"The elite in the country joke that he is too big to please his wife and that's why
they do not have any other children. One senior official said that Kim was drinking many bottles
of snake wine to help him in the bedroom department."
Snake wine is popular all across South China and Southeast Asia. Its makers usually put
one large snake inside each bottle, and throw in a number of different roots, berries, and
herbs for flavor or medicinal effect. The flavor is said to be earthy, and similar to
rice wine with a protein finish, like a fishy chicken. Occasionally, the snake is drowned
in the alcohol during the winemaking process — leading to the occasional incident in
which half-living snakes have leapt out of the bottle and attacked the drinker.
"Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?"
As a state leader, Kim often finds himself attending lavish dinners, banquets, and other
similar events. Unsurprisingly, the menus at such events tend to be chock-full of haute
cuisine and gourmet dishes. Take Kim's Hanoi summit with Donald Trump in February 2019,
for example. The menu was originally set to include Hanoi style spring rolls, grilled
cod "cha ca" and shredded mango salad with scallops.
On that particular occasion, the menu actually became subjected to something of a last-minute
rewrite. In the end, Kim was served shrimp cocktail with Thousand Island dressing, grilled
sirloin with pear kimchi, and chocolate lava cake with fresh berries and vanilla ice cream
for dessert. The exact reason for the change in menu wasn't given, but it's probably no
coincidence that those foods are the exact type of thing you tend to find on the menu
at Trump's own hotels and restaurants.
Kim attended another dinner in 2018, this time with South Korean president Moon Jae-in.
In the Peace House that stands in the Korean demilitarized zone's so-called "truce village"
of Panmunjom, Kim and Moon dined on a number of extravagant dishes. These included chilled
octopus garnished with citrus soy sauce, Korean beef with vegetables, and parcels of sea cucumber,
cod and beef.
The dinner was also rife with symbolism, with ingredients sourced from locations with personal
value to the two leaders, surprise miniature maps of a unified Korea, and frequent acknowledgements
of both countries' culinary traditions. Did it work? Well…
"The North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the world will soon get a glimpse of what
he called a new strategic weapon."
Of course, though tensions between North and South Korea tend to run high, often risking
the deaths of tens of thousands of people, the citizens of each country can rest assured
their leaders are eating like kings. Not that that's necessarily comforting.
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