Upcoming Event

Please join the School of Linguistics and Language Studies for a presentation with Dr. Sunho Ko (York University).

Feeding the People: Collective Dining, Science, and
Gendered Labor in Postwar North Korea

In the aftermath of the Korean War, North Korea embraced the captivating slogan, “Let’s turn our restaurants into collective kitchens of the people (inmin ŭi kongdong chubang)!” as a response to the challenges of feeding the war-torn country’s people to enhance their labor productivity. This initiative led to the expansion of collective feeding facilities and various programs, including factory canteens, community restaurants, and school and nursery meals. The ambitious project for nutritious meals through socialist principles involved a diverse group of stakeholders from government officials to nutritional scientists, architects, dining facility workers, and customers.

This presentation focuses on the crucial role of science within this endeavor. Scientific visions of managing food encompassed every facet of facility management in North Korea, from menu development and demand forecasting to supply chain oversight, kitchen design, standardized cooking techniques, and table service. Real challenges lay in translating the scientific visions into practice within local facilities. As major duty holders, female workers bore the immense burden of making ad-hoc decisions regarding menu design, cooking methods, and the procurement of ingredients and tools.

By closely examining this materialization process conducted by female labor, the presentation reveals that North Korean postwar reconstruction was not merely a seamless top-down state initiative. Instead, it emerged as a complex interplay of tensions and struggles at the local level. The pursuit of providing nourishing meals for labor productivity became a dynamic interaction of ideas, resources, and constraints, epitomizing the intricate balance between universal science, central planning, and local adaptation.

Dr. Sunho Ko teaches in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics at York University.