Densho Digital Archive - Takashi Hoshizaki Interview (denshovh-htakashi

<Begin Segment 18>

TI: So other memories of Pomona? I mean, it sounds like you were really busy with the mess hall, but was there anything else about Pomona?

TH: Well, one of the things that happened was, I guess to keep the people occupied, might say keep busy, we had baseball games, and then I guess you might call the local talent shows on the stage and music and people would sing. I remember one evening that we had free time we did go out there. I was out there taking that in. So there were activities. I guess the people who were in charge, or the authorities realized that you just can't have 'em sitting around, maybe mulling and, and so keep 'em occupied and give 'em some entertainment.

TI: Good. I want to go back. I forgot to ask, you mentioned the head cook. I'm curious, what kind of experience did your head cook have?

TH: We were very fortunate, and the fellow's name was Nob and I forgot his last name, but he was the chef at the L.A. Country Club. And so he had, he was a professional, basically, and so he was able to then project ahead and know, and I remember some days he would step outside and look at the weather and say, maybe the old thing, "Well, better make up some more soup or we'll cut back on something," knowing how (...) the people would be wanting to eat or what the people would eat, different weather conditions. And then that way he was also training, I think he had about three other assistant cooks, and he would be training them a lot, what to do.

TI: And was this an Issei?

TH: A Nisei, I think. Yeah, Nisei fellow. He was very good. In fact, I learned a lot about cooking 'cause they used to complain about the cakes that we would make, very course. And so then I (asked why the cake was just so-so), "Oh no," he says, "We only got this kind of flour to do it," whereas if you're gonna make a cake or make bread or whatever you get different types of flour. I still don't fully understand it, but better maybe the type of wheat or maybe the way they ground (and) prepared the flour.

TI: Yeah, you probably were lucky because he knew how to cook for large groups.

TH: (...) And there were other, when we were in Heart Mountain there were other problems with, in other mess halls because they didn't have experienced cooks.