North Korea leader orders Italian, in a big way

History is filled with stories of kings and queens who had demanding culinary tastes — the legendary chef Antonin Careme worked for King George IV and Czar Alexander — but today’s news that Kim Jong Il, the leader of North Korea, ordering the opening of the country’s first Italian restaurant and “sending North Korean cooks to Naples and Rome last year to reproduce authentic Italian pizza and pasta” is a new twist on the tale, particularly since most North Koreans cannot afford to eat out.