North Korea Opens Its First Pizzeria

I heard on the radio this morning that North Korea has just opened its first pizzeria. The country's dictator, Kim Jong-il, has a palate for fine foods, and has finally authorized the opening of the Italian restaurant after almost 10 years of trying to perfect the Italian pizza pie.

In the 90's, Kim Jong-il flew a few Chefs from Italy to North Korea in efforts to help train his men on how to make pizza. One of the chefs was Ermanno Furlanis. Even after the training, he was dissatisfied with the results.

Recently, he flew some of his chefs to Italy to learn the tricks of the trade, and soon after, the first pizzeria opened up in North Korea.

With the country's current situation, I'm not even sure if any of the general population will ever get to go to this new restaurant to try a gooey, cheesy slice of pizza.

Here are some more articles that talk about the pizzeria and Furlanis' experience in N. Korea:

The Guardian - This article has a neat bit at the end about Kim Jong-il's passion for fine foods, and how one of Kim's former chefs defected.

Sky News - There is a nice North Korea picture gallery at the end of this article.

BBC News - This article from 2004 talks about how Furlanis got summoned to go to North Korea to train Kim's men.

Asia Times - Furlanis' personal account of his experience in North Korea.