Camp Food Quality Comparable to the Average Standards

In recognition of a widespread public interest in the subject of food provided by the government to evacuees in relocation camps, the War Relocation Authority has prepared the following statement of its problem and policies in this field of its responsibilities.

Food for the consumption of the evacuees in various relocation camps is purchased through the U. S. Quartermaster Corps under specifications established by the Army. It is the policy of the authority to provide the evacuees with good substantial food of a quality and quantity comparable to that available to the general public. It is distributed to the mess halls under circumstances which provide strict restriction control over the kind and quality of food issued. All rationing recommendations applicable to the civilian population of the United States are applied in the operation of mess hails in the centers. If regulations governing the population are modified, the same modification will be made in the feeding program of the centers.

They are alloted sugar, coffee, and ration points for processed foods and meats, in accordance with the regulations governing all civilian institutions in this country. Rationing restrictions are applied in the issue of food from storerooms to mess halls. Food costs for the center consumption must not exceed 45c per person.

Exercising its policy of making each center self-supporting, the authority has provided the evacuees with facilities to produce a large portion of their own food. Substantial acreage has been alloted to each center for vegetable production and farms. Production programs allow shipment from center to center; for example, vegetables produced in the winter at Arizona centers are shipped to centers in Idaho and Wyoming, which in turn will ship summer-produced food to Arizona. Swine and poultry projects will be established in all centers during the present crop year. Beef will be raised in certain centers having the necessary grazing land. Near the once camouflage net project, a huge pit is being dug for storing vegetables for Manzanar's winter consumption.

New Year Greeted By Mochi-tsuki

Through countless centuries it has been a tradition of the Japanese people to celebrate the new year with a late December "mochi-tsuki" (conversion of steamed rice into delicious white rice cakes). Prior to evacuation it was more or less a family affair with neighbors helping on occasions, but last December the residents of the center experienced a war-time version of the famed "rice conversion" act with all able-bodied persons in their respective blocks participating.

Starting out with the steaming stage in the early a.m., the next stage finds the "brawn" of the inexperienced niseis versus the "brains" of the much more qualified isseis in the pounding of the rice. While still in its soft and hot stanza, the females are called upon to manipulate the "machi," molding them into round shapes of all sizes. Some are stuffed with sweetened beans, while the others are solidly molded for later consumption as an ingredient in a special new year soup.

Mess Division Controls Feeding of 9,000 People

Responsibilities of meeting and coping with the complex problem of feeding nearly 9,000 people daily falls on the shoulder of the Mess Management Division. In spite of some confusion and inconveniences caused by the recent rationing program, this department headed by Chief Steward J. R. Winchester, is one of the smoothest and most efficient departments in the center.

The office of Chief Steward Joseph Winchester is located in Room 12, Administration building. Assisting him are M. L. Harbach and E. A. Prentice, associate project stewards; Ben Yamada and Shizuo Mitsuhata, senior stewards; and Masao Higaharo, acting superintendent of personnel. This department takes care of all requisitions of foodstuffs, planning and issuing of all menus, hiring of all personnel connected with the mess division, and supervision of the food rationing program.

An important sub-department is the warehouse section from which the food is issued to the kitchens. The main office of the mess operation warehouses is located at Warehouse 10.

This section with Senior Storekeeper B. J. Patton, assisted by Tsugiso Tsugimura, warehouse manager; James Tanigawa, supply clerk; and Fred Fujimoto, timekeeper; maintains the storage and issuance of foodstuffs, cost and records of meals served, and daily deliverance of food to the mess halls.

Kitchen personnel, with a chief steward, cooks, and waiters, is composed entirely of evacuees. The kitchen chefs includs Kotobuki Ota, 1; Tetsugi Takeuchi, 2; Bunjiro Yamada, 3; Eikichi Takahashi, 4; Teruichi Inukai, 5; Tsugio Takeoka, 6; Shinichi Asanuma, 8; Sannosuke Yamashita, 9; Takekuma Murata, 10; Ichiji Tanaka, 11; Naosuke Kamigoshi, 12; Katsuo Imakyune, 13; Uichi Izumi, 14; Eichashi Shigemori, 15; Katsuye Cho, 16; Joe T. Tanaka, 17; Morikichi Matsumoto, 18; Nobuzo Fujimoto, 19; Ukichi Fujii, 20; Kiichi Sakaki, 21; Ted Katayama, 22; Eikichi Motooka, 23; Tsumeichi Nakaji, 24; Frank Yamada, 25; Otoichi Fukuchima, 26; Jack Isotani, 27; Kijiro Kirino, 28; Kito Nishimoto, 29; Yonekazu Matsumoto, 30; Saichi Yamamoto, 31; Kenjiro Okanouye, 32; Mack Fujii, 33; Tokuzo Nakane, 34; Kanzo Nagano, 35; Tomio Naito, 36; Keikichi Amano, 39, Children's Village; Temachi Ichiyo, 40, Hospital; Rinzo Yamada, 42, Administrative Mess; Kansuke Uraguchi, 510, Relief Crew.