‘My mother’s tofu soup’ is one of a series of films exploring the lives of North Korean escapees now living in other countries. Here, Gangji Heo shows us a typical dish eaten by North Korean people during the 1994 to 1998 famine. She cooks her mother’s tofu soup and talks about the period known as the ‘Arduous March’.
Whilst well known North Korean dishes include cold noodles and squid black pudding, these are not everyday meals for the majority of people. In this video, food triggers the memories of difficult times. I hope we can begin to understand the story of North Korea as the story of people, rather than the regime.