Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: George Matsumoto Interview
Narrator: George Matsumoto
Interviewer: Kirk Peterson
Location: Orange, California
Date: June 10, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-mgeorge_3-01-0023

<Begin Segment 23>

KP: One other question I have is did you see a change in the food as the camp started going along? I mean, from the beginning to when you left?

GM: Well, we had more variety of vegetables. We had chicken and that kind of thing, pork. The pork was, had a lot of fat to it. It wasn't lean. It was more, I don't know what kind of pork, pigs they had, but they used to bring it to us, the heads and tail, everything intact, split right down the middle. We had to boil, I think. It would make good stock, but you'd see the eyeballs staring at you, lookin' at you. Kinda weird.

RP: Did some of the Issei cooks teach you how to make special Japanese dishes?

GM: Yeah.

RP: Like what type of dishes did you learn to make?

GM: Mostly sukiyaki and tempura, these kind of things. Nothing fancy.

RP: Did you have anything resembling sushi at all, sashimi?

GM: Yeah, sometimes. No, no sashimi, but sushi they'd do.

RP: Did you get fish on a regular basis or just once in a while?

GM: No, once in a while, a great while.

KP: What kind of fish was it?

GM: It was nondescript, to say the least. Mostly like mackerel. Mostly it was canned, like canned salmon.

RP: There was a fish market in camp for a little while.

GM: Yeah.

RP: But that's not where you got your fish?

GM: No, no, that was, you had to go buy it yourself.

KP: Luxury item.

RP: The other question I had, George, is when the camp was built, you mentioned that everything was bladed off.

GM: Yeah.

RP: And what changes did you see in the landscape in Block 18 from the time you were there?

GM: That was kinda shocking because the trees and shrubs and... I should have took pictures of it.

RP: Lawns, too? Were lawns planted?

GM: Yeah, we had the one next to our barrack. People used to come and lay down because it was a novelty, to see grass.

RP: There were a number of mess halls that built gardens.

GM: Yeah.

RP: These mess hall gardens, was there ever a discussion on your block about building a garden like that?

GM: No, because I was only there for about couple, two years, less than two years. I was one of the bad guys and they threw me out.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.