Dear Mr. Rawles,
Here is my review of the book Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
, by Barbara Demick. This a book with great insights for preppers and survivalists, especially in the famine food area. As you are aware, North Korea suffered a disastrous ten-year famine in which possibly as many as 20% of the population died of starvation and most of the rest were severely malnourished. This book is about several families and how they did and didn’t make it through those years. Particularly striking to me were instances where they were eating and, more-or-less, surviving on sawdust, corncobs, grasses, weeds and all manner of other things that even hard-core survivalists disdain. The daily ‘meal’ at a college was turnip leaf soup with salt. I had the impression that the turnip leaves were somewhat sparse as well. Sometimes a spoonful of cornmeal that had been cooked for hours to plump it up was added as a treat. In latter years, one woman was getting up before dawn to pick whatever weeds had sprouted during the night before others found them. Both her husband and son starved to death.
Some ability to grow some sort of vegetables was a real key to surviving. A well-off family made it through on seaweed, rice and shreds of carrots and cucumbers. They were eating better than everyone except the very elite government leaders.
Also, notable was how informal markets and bartering arose, even under massive government oppression, and was a survival mechanism for many. Those who suffered most were those who didn’t have and couldn’t find any barter-able skill. The skills that were valuable would be of interest to many preppers. The ability to make things and cook things were especially useful.
I think that you and your readers will find the book of interest. – Nancy S.
