N. Korea’s First Pizza Joint Opens

Although most North Koreans live on $1,800 a year, leader Kim Jong-Il believes they ought to be able to try the world’s best foods, the BBC reports. To that end, he flew a team of chefs to Naples and Rome last year to learn to cook pizza and pasta, and Pyongyang now boasts its first pizza parlor, which imports its flour, butter, and cheese from Italy and has done a brisk business since opening in December. The restaurant may have been more than 10 years in the making: In 1997, Italian chef Ermanno Furlanis was flown to the country along with some authentic pizza ovens. But it’s unlikely most locals can afford to dine at the new pizza parlor—North Korea relies on international food aid to feed its people and is one of the world’s poorest countries.