<Begin Segment 20>

RP: One other question about, you talked a little bit about eating at the, the Village, did you all eat at separate tables or did you have one long table that you ate at, or how did...

CT: We had a lot of different tables, but everybody, there was a bunch of children on each table, yeah. And so once in a while some of the big guys would get in a fist fight because they moved the, they moved the table accidentally and spilled the, spilled the milk, so, but they were sitting at the big boys' table and to me they were big boys, so they would fight and fistfight, just wham wham wham each other. I enjoyed that. That was wonderful. We were at the little kids table, but we would have a fight many times at the dining room table because somebody spilled something. [Laughs] It was unbelievable.

RP: So you had your own cook there, didn't you?

CT: They had, yeah.

RP: At the, at the Village?

CT: Apparently, according to what I've read, the Clifton Cafeterias in L.A., that was very famous in those days, and he was one of the chefs just of the Children's Village. And the other mess halls had just regular people, but this guy was an actual chef and I cannot tell you if I liked the food or not. I can tell you what I didn't like, but I can't tell you whether it was -- well, a little kid, they don't like to eat anyway. They're, you just eat what's there. You don't have discriminating tastes like you do when you're an adult. You just eat what's there. But, but the one thing I didn't like, I'd sit there 'til midnight and wouldn't eat it. Horrible.

RP: The shaved daikon.

CT: Oh, I'll never have that. You like it?

RP: I haven't had it.

CT: It's horrible.

RP: Okay. You know, I'll take your word for that.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.