North Koreans rarely eat pork. It's not that North Koreans don't want to eat or eat less pork, but that for the vast majority of ordinary people, pork (and other meats) is an expensive and hard-to-get luxury.
In North Korea, eating meat is never a random thing, on the table of the ordinary family, more is corn meat, potato soup, cooking, sometimes adding a little salad even to improve the food.
As for pork, it has to be on the year-end, children study at the university, or rare guests come home, only to turn out a little frozen meat from the closet, make a snack, for most people, this meat is not only rare, but also luxurious.
This situation is caused not only by fewer pigs, but also by the meat ticket system, under the planned economy, North Korea has a system of distribution of meat – with tickets you have meat, but the problem is, not everyone has tickets.
Pyongyang people can get a little, to the local cities less than half, the rural people simply have no tickets, farmers themselves harvest the land, but not even a piece of pork, this "up and down two heads fat, medium slender" distribution method, cutting the social gap clearly.
More concerned is the market price, in the market the price of pork per kilogram varies from 5,000 to 15,000 yuan. while the average worker's monthly salary is 3000 to 5,000 yuan, which means that to eat a pork, you have to put a monthly salary in, not even the salt dare to shed too much.
Among the privileged classes, pork is not so out of reach. Military units, scientific research institutions, and cadre families not only have meat coupons, but sometimes also have special supply channels. For them, pork is not just food, but also power. Metaphor is a social signal of "I can but not". Just like famous brand bags and luxury cars, class symbols are written not only on their faces, but also in the saucepan.
It's not that North Korea doesn't want to raise pigs, but it really can't afford them. Most of this country is mountainous, and there is not enough land to grow crops. How can there be extra food to feed pigs?
Corn and soybeans these feed, in North Korea is primarily used to blur the population, pigs can only be ranked in the last place, if they encounter disaster years, even people can not eat, pigs can only rely on the sky to eat.
The climate is not strong either. Winter is as cold as a refrigerator and summer is as hot as a steamer. In this climate, even people can easily get sick, let alone raising pigs. Coupled with typhoons, floods, and droughts that continue year after year, agriculture is already fragile, and the breeding industry is even worse.
Backward technology is another hurdle. Most farms in North Korea still rely on traditional ways to raise pigs. Automatic feeding and disease prevention and control are basically extravagant hopes. Once pigs get sick, no one knows how to save them. It is common for a litter to die.
Coupled with the long breeding cycle, the pigs are difficult to feed, the investment in output is extremely low, and many people simply give up pig breeding, transfer chicken duckfish, at least quickly, and not easily lost.
And the shadow of the sanctions is like an invisible network, the North Korean agriculture trapped in the ground, the sanctions of the United Nations and Western countries, restricted the capacity of the North's import of feed, breeding equipment and modern technology, originally behind the breeding industry, and the opportunities for foreign aid upgrading are blocked, pig breeding can not be introduced, vaccines can not be bought, even the pump for pigs are difficult, who dares to invest on a large scale?
Coupled with the resource inclination of "first army politics", the state gives priority to limited feed, building materials and labor to military farms, and civilian agriculture is naturally marginalized. As a result, the troops can eat meat, and the common people can only look at the meat tickets in a daze.
Ordinary people can't expect the country to produce meat, and they can't afford high-priced meat in the market. What should they do? You can only find a way by yourself. Some families will secretly slaughter the "New Year Pigs" at the end of the year, and several neighbors will feed one in partnership and eat it once a year; Others will exchange meat tickets on the black market, and exchange them for food, clothes, and even tobacco and alcohol. Although the risk is high, it is more practical than waiting for rations.
There are also a lot of people to start adjusting the diet structure, meat can not eat, but oil can not do without, especially pork oil, fat meat rather than lean meat, because a piece of fat meat can get out half a can of oil, can cook, can make soup, can also chew the bottom of the pot, the price is high, the elderly in the house often said: "meat can eat one meal, oil can eat ten."
Protein substitutes are also constantly enriched, and dog meat is especially popular in summer. The traditional Korean concept believes that eating dog meat can "replenish yang"; Chicken is cheaper in comparison, and rural families can raise a few of them themselves; Fish depend on rivers, lakes and seas. Although the quantity is not large, it is better than nothing; Tofu and soy products are the most stable sources of protein in staple foods, and even in Pyongyang, you can see long queues of "tofu stalls".
The North Korean government is not sitting idly by completely. In recent years, some modern pig farms have been built one after another, including Datongjiang Pig Factory, which has been vigorously publicized by the government, and has tried to cooperate with Russia and other countries to introduce exotic pig breeds and advanced technologies.
But these efforts are limited by resources, technology and institutions, and it is difficult to change the overall situation in the short term.
In the final analysis, North Koreans cannot afford pork, not because they are lazy, nor because they do not like to eat, but because the resource structure, economic system and international environment of this society jointly determine that this piece of meat does not belong to ordinary people, it belongs to the upper class, belongs to quotas, belongs to the network of relationships, and belongs to the "world of others" that ordinary people can see but cannot eat.
In other countries, pork is a daily consumer product readily available on supermarket shelves. In North Korea, it has become a mirror, showing the cracks in the system, showing the distance between classes, and showing the difficulty of maintaining "stability" in a country in turmoil.
Maybe one day, like most people in the world, North Koreans will be able to go to the market at any time, buy a piece of pork, and go home to make a hot hot hot hot meat.But before that day comes, pork will still be the “star guest” on the North Korean table, rather than a daily host.
References:
Korean media: Compared with rice, will meat become the new "staple food" of South Korea this year?
Overseas Network 2022-09-16
Why do Koreans eat Korean food? – Why do Koreans eat Korean food?
2023-10-30 Featured News
In North Korea, eating meat is never a random thing, on the table of the ordinary family, more is corn meat, potato soup, cooking, sometimes adding a little salad even to improve the food.
As for pork, it has to be on the year-end, children study at the university, or rare guests come home, only to turn out a little frozen meat from the closet, make a snack, for most people, this meat is not only rare, but also luxurious.
This situation is caused not only by fewer pigs, but also by the meat ticket system, under the planned economy, North Korea has a system of distribution of meat – with tickets you have meat, but the problem is, not everyone has tickets.
Pyongyang people can get a little, to the local cities less than half, the rural people simply have no tickets, farmers themselves harvest the land, but not even a piece of pork, this "up and down two heads fat, medium slender" distribution method, cutting the social gap clearly.
More concerned is the market price, in the market the price of pork per kilogram varies from 5,000 to 15,000 yuan. while the average worker's monthly salary is 3000 to 5,000 yuan, which means that to eat a pork, you have to put a monthly salary in, not even the salt dare to shed too much.
Among the privileged classes, pork is not so out of reach. Military units, scientific research institutions, and cadre families not only have meat coupons, but sometimes also have special supply channels. For them, pork is not just food, but also power. Metaphor is a social signal of "I can but not". Just like famous brand bags and luxury cars, class symbols are written not only on their faces, but also in the saucepan.
It's not that North Korea doesn't want to raise pigs, but it really can't afford them. Most of this country is mountainous, and there is not enough land to grow crops. How can there be extra food to feed pigs?
Corn and soybeans these feed, in North Korea is primarily used to blur the population, pigs can only be ranked in the last place, if they encounter disaster years, even people can not eat, pigs can only rely on the sky to eat.
The climate is not strong either. Winter is as cold as a refrigerator and summer is as hot as a steamer. In this climate, even people can easily get sick, let alone raising pigs. Coupled with typhoons, floods, and droughts that continue year after year, agriculture is already fragile, and the breeding industry is even worse.
Backward technology is another hurdle. Most farms in North Korea still rely on traditional ways to raise pigs. Automatic feeding and disease prevention and control are basically extravagant hopes. Once pigs get sick, no one knows how to save them. It is common for a litter to die.
Coupled with the long breeding cycle, the pigs are difficult to feed, the investment in output is extremely low, and many people simply give up pig breeding, transfer chicken duckfish, at least quickly, and not easily lost.
And the shadow of the sanctions is like an invisible network, the North Korean agriculture trapped in the ground, the sanctions of the United Nations and Western countries, restricted the capacity of the North's import of feed, breeding equipment and modern technology, originally behind the breeding industry, and the opportunities for foreign aid upgrading are blocked, pig breeding can not be introduced, vaccines can not be bought, even the pump for pigs are difficult, who dares to invest on a large scale?
Coupled with the resource inclination of "first army politics", the state gives priority to limited feed, building materials and labor to military farms, and civilian agriculture is naturally marginalized. As a result, the troops can eat meat, and the common people can only look at the meat tickets in a daze.
Ordinary people can't expect the country to produce meat, and they can't afford high-priced meat in the market. What should they do? You can only find a way by yourself. Some families will secretly slaughter the "New Year Pigs" at the end of the year, and several neighbors will feed one in partnership and eat it once a year; Others will exchange meat tickets on the black market, and exchange them for food, clothes, and even tobacco and alcohol. Although the risk is high, it is more practical than waiting for rations.
There are also a lot of people to start adjusting the diet structure, meat can not eat, but oil can not do without, especially pork oil, fat meat rather than lean meat, because a piece of fat meat can get out half a can of oil, can cook, can make soup, can also chew the bottom of the pot, the price is high, the elderly in the house often said: "meat can eat one meal, oil can eat ten."
Protein substitutes are also constantly enriched, and dog meat is especially popular in summer. The traditional Korean concept believes that eating dog meat can "replenish yang"; Chicken is cheaper in comparison, and rural families can raise a few of them themselves; Fish depend on rivers, lakes and seas. Although the quantity is not large, it is better than nothing; Tofu and soy products are the most stable sources of protein in staple foods, and even in Pyongyang, you can see long queues of "tofu stalls".
The North Korean government is not sitting idly by completely. In recent years, some modern pig farms have been built one after another, including Datongjiang Pig Factory, which has been vigorously publicized by the government, and has tried to cooperate with Russia and other countries to introduce exotic pig breeds and advanced technologies.
But these efforts are limited by resources, technology and institutions, and it is difficult to change the overall situation in the short term.
In the final analysis, North Koreans cannot afford pork, not because they are lazy, nor because they do not like to eat, but because the resource structure, economic system and international environment of this society jointly determine that this piece of meat does not belong to ordinary people, it belongs to the upper class, belongs to quotas, belongs to the network of relationships, and belongs to the "world of others" that ordinary people can see but cannot eat.
In other countries, pork is a daily consumer product readily available on supermarket shelves. In North Korea, it has become a mirror, showing the cracks in the system, showing the distance between classes, and showing the difficulty of maintaining "stability" in a country in turmoil.
Maybe one day, like most people in the world, North Koreans will be able to go to the market at any time, buy a piece of pork, and go home to make a hot hot hot hot meat.But before that day comes, pork will still be the “star guest” on the North Korean table, rather than a daily host.
References:
Korean media: Compared with rice, will meat become the new "staple food" of South Korea this year?
Overseas Network 2022-09-16
Why do Koreans eat Korean food? – Why do Koreans eat Korean food?
2023-10-30 Featured News