Ultimate Gourmand switches to burgers

Are those French fries on his lapels?

Hamburger factory ordered for N Korea

Communist North Korea has started producing hamburgers and French fries even though they are often regarded as culinary symbols of the United States

The startling news has been revealed by one of North Korea's official newspapers.

Apparently the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, ordered that a hamburger factory be built to provide what he called "quality food" for university students, professors and researchers.

North Korea is desperately poor and food is in short supply.

More than 1 million people are thought to have starved to death during the 1990s.

The decision to produce hamburgers and French fries is surprising because in North Korea, most symbols of America are treated with enormous suspicion.

[SOURCE: ABC News Online]

An early sign of a thaw in U.S./N. Korea relations?

Considering Kim Jong Il is a world-class gourmand, this news is downright revolutionary. Here's an excerpt from the tell-all book "I Was Kim Jong Il's Cook".

"He particularly enjoyed sashimi so fresh that he could start eating the fish as its mouth is still gasping and the tail is still thrashing," Fujimoto said. "I sliced the fish so as not to puncture any of its vital organs, so of course it was still moving. Kim Jong Il was delighted. He would eat it with gusto."

Chef Kenji Fujimoto's book isn't available in the West yet, but you can read more here.