Food

The eating facilities in the camps were large mess halls with long lines and crowded tables. Group living tended to erode family solidarity, as teenagers escaped parental authority by eating with friends rather than family. The quality of the food was poor and milk and fresh meat were constantly in short supply. Inexpensive foods such as wieners, dried fish, pancakes, macaroni and pickled vegetables were served often. The diets of the camp inmates improved only after they began growing some of their own food.

Food (136)

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136 items

doc Letter to Molly Wilson from Tomoko Ikeda (June 10, 1942) (ddr-janm-1-1)

Handwritten letter written by Tomoko Ikeda to Molly Wilson, June 10, 1942. Letter was written from an assembly center or a relocation center, and mentions adjusting to food in center and missing school.

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-1-1/

doc Letter (with envelope) to Molly Wilson from Sadae (Lillian) Nishioka (June 8, 1942) (ddr-janm-1-94)

Handwritten letter to Molly Wilson from Sadae (Lillian) Nishioka (June 8, 1942). Envelope is postmarked June 11, 1942 and addressed from Lillian Nishioka from the Poston (Colorado River) Incarceration Camp in Parker, Arizona.

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-1-94/

doc Letter to Mollie Wilson from Sadae (Lillian) Nishioka (c. 1942) (ddr-janm-1-95)

Handwritten letter to Mollie Wilson from Sadae (Lillian) Nishioka (c. 1942) from the Poston (Colorado River) Incarceration Camp in Parker, Arizona.

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-1-95/

img Mealtime in mess hall (ddr-densho-151-432)

Original caption: Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Mealtime in one of the messhalls at this War Relocation Authority center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry.

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-151-432/

doc Visitor's receipt for meals (ddr-densho-25-110)

In 1943, Mitsuo Iseri was on leave from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He visited Minidoka, and received this receipt for meals.

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-25-110/

img Mess hall food (ddr-densho-37-413)

Original WRA caption: Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. Meals are being served cafeteria style at this War Relocation Authority Center.

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-413/

img Japanese Americans in mess hall (ddr-densho-37-738)

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-738/

img Japanese American preparing lunch (ddr-densho-37-330)

Original WRA caption: Dave K. Yoshida, from Seattle, Washington former Chef for Benjamin Franklin Hotel. Kitchen crew preparing lunch. Menu: Baked macaroni with Spanish sauce, spinach, pickled beets, bread-pudding, tea, bread & butter.

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-330/

img Japanese American cooking (ddr-densho-37-106)

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-106/

img Meal in a mess hall (ddr-densho-37-525)

Original WRA caption: Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado. A group of residents loll over their evening meal.

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-525/

img Decorated table (ddr-densho-37-246)

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-246/

doc The Newell Star, Vol. II, No. 32 (August 10, 1945) (ddr-densho-284-80)

Selected article titles: "Meningitis Case: Great Effort Made to Save Tule Baby" (pp. 1-2), "July: Harvest Yields 372,580 Pounds of Vegetables" (p. 2), "Resettlers May Obtain Materials" (p. 2), and "Allowances for GI's Dependents" (p. 4).

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-284-80/

doc The Newell Star, Vol. I, No. 7 (April 20, 1944) (ddr-densho-284-12)

Selected article titles: "82 in Center Receive Notices to Report for Physical Exams: Base Hospital to Be Utilized" (p. 1), "More Arrivals Expected as Segregation Plan Resumed" (p. 1), and "Red Cross Gifts Distributed to CA and Japanese Library" (p. 2).

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-284-12/

doc Co-Op News, Vol I. No. 9 (July 29, 1943) (ddr-densho-288-7)

Selected article titles: "Election Results: Five New Directors Chosen; Ito, Yoda, Oida Re-elected" (p. 1), "New Faces Seen at Canteen, Office; Circulation Head Named" (p. 1), "Sanitation Prevents Sale of Fresh Fish - Mangement" (p. 1).

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-288-7/

doc Letter from Uhachi Tamesa to H.E. Nims (ddr-densho-333-11)

Letter of thanks for shipment of Japanese pears

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-333-11/

vh Harry Ueno Interview Segment 13 (ddr-densho-1002-7-13)

Working in the camp mess hall: making do when certain foods are in short supply

This interview was conducted by sisters Emiko and Chizuko Omori for their 1999 documentary, Rabbit in the Moon, about the Japanese American resisters of conscience in the World War II incarceration camps. As a result, the interviews in this collection are ...

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1002-7-13/

vh Kinge Okauchi Interview Segment 17 (ddr-manz-1-39-17)

Working in the camp mess hall

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-manz-1-39-17/

vh Sumiko Yamauchi Interview Segment 13 (ddr-manz-1-135-13)

Food in camp: trying to eat at other mess halls

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-manz-1-135-13/

img War ration certificate of registrar (ddr-densho-361-2)

Nobuko Sakai's war ration book.

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-361-2/

vh An Oral History with Norman Y. Mineta - Segment 1 (ddr-csujad-29-55-1)

Japanese American congressman, representing the Thirteenth Congressional District of California, born and raised in San Jose, California, discusses his early life, graduation from the University of California, Berkeley, and receiving a commission and serving in the armed forces from 1953-1956. Recalls the removal, "relocation," and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II at the Heart ...

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-29-55-1/

doc Manzanar From Inside Out (ddr-csujad-19-2)

Text of address by Roy Nash, Director of the Manzanar War Relocation Project, given to the Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco, on July 31, 1942 for the purpose of "interpret[ing] the actuality of a War Relocation Center housing 10,000 evacuees" in view of perceptions of mistreatment of incarcerees in California. Sections of the ...

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-csujad-19-2/

img Farewell dinner at Heart Mountain concentration camp (ddr-densho-242-22)

Caption on front: "Tom Sashikara Aug '44." Caption by Ike Hatchimonji: "Heart Mountain Aug. 1944. Caption reads: 'Farewell dinner for Tom Sashikara leaving for Cleveland, OH. Guy Robertson, the camp director and Mrs. Pryne were there.' K. Hatchimonji is seen on left with his hand on his chin."

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-242-22/

img Japanese Americans preparing lunch (ddr-densho-37-331)

Original WRA caption: Dave K. Yoshida, from Seattle, Washington former Chef for [the] Benjamin Franklin Hotel. Kitchen crew preparing lunch. Menu: Baked macaroni with Spanish sauce, spinach, pickled beets, bread-pudding, tea, bread & butter.

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-331/

img Japanese Americans cooking (ddr-densho-37-105)

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-105/

img Three children in a camp dining hall (ddr-densho-37-10)

Original WRA caption: Christmas 1944.

http://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-37-10/