I Ate the Favorite Foods of Trump, Putin, and Kim Jong Un

Most members of the animal kingdom’s lives are consumed by food — the hunt to find it, the struggle to not become it. Our ape ancestors spent 80% of the day chewing. While civilization freed us from such shackles — only about 5% of our time today is spent eating — food remains arguably our most important input, influencing our mood, immune system, sex drive, skin, energy, and health.

In my opinion, the best way to learn about a culture is to eat their food. Could we say the same about a human? Biographers sketch extensive portraits of their subjects but often overlook the food they ate. Similarly, while international scholars furiously study world leaders like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, they often neglect to examine their plates — the foods that determine, possibly more than anything else, the temperaments of history’s shapers.

I would not make such a mistake. I decided to become a gastrojournalist, fractionally fusing with my subjects by replicating their stomach contents for a day. Perhaps by eating their food I could understand their minds. And I did — I discovered how Trump’s massive McDonalds order is actually a potent source of energy, how Putin’s diet contribute’s to the man’s hardiness, and why North Korean cold noodles likely inflames Kim’s appetite for foreign foods.