A POW had to have an attitude with a strong will to survive in order to eat the food given by the Japanese. POWs reported that their diet was restricted to a bland diet of polished rice and little else[1] with no seasoning, salt or butter.[2] The rice had weevils, maggots, [3] rat droppings, rocks, grubs,[4] earthworm eggs[5] and whatever else was swept off the floor when bagging and processing the rice.[6] It was served in a thin soup called Lugao,[7] sometimes with a hint of vegetables or as a rice ball the size of a golf ball.[8] Because the food was so disgusting many POWs could not bear to eat it and as a result, died from starvation. [9] Ex-POW Robert Brown declared, “It took me an hour and a half to eat that rice. But I’d cuss myself and I’d make myself eat it. I’d gag and throw it right back down on the ground. You had to do it if you wanted to live.”[10] Even at that, there was never enough food. POWs were always hungry. [11] Once every few months or so, meat was added to the brew. The meat amounted to about one ounce per person which size was comparable to that of a fingernail.[12] Yet even this small piece of meat was so rare it was a special treat and helped boost the morale of the POWs. Ex-POW Tony Bilek recalled, “Soup with meat, it was like manna from heaven. We hadn't tasted meat in months. Our mouths literally watered as we argued over whether the rumor was really true. … Everyone was smiling and jabbering away.”[13] 

 

Because the food supply was so limited, any additional food could temporarily improve the POWs’ attitude.  They thought about food constantly. Bilek confessed, “Our most popular topic was always food. In prison camp, Betty Grable, Lana Turner, and all the other pin-up girls were turned aside in favor of someone's hamburger vision or turkey-dinner fantasy.”[14] POWs were so hungry that some ate rotting garbage and died from food poisoning.[15] To supplement their diet a black market operated in most POW camps which supplied a commissary store where POWs could buy additional food. [16]  POWs were paid the same as the Japanese rank for rank. The United States arranged with the Japanese government financial assistance in order to pay wages to the POWs in the hope that it would improve their lot.[17] In addition, working parties outside of camp smuggled food into the POW camp. Those POWs caught smuggling would be beaten.[18] Due to the risks, food that was smuggled into the camps sold for exorbitant prices. [19] Red Cross packages could have been a significant source of food for the POWs if they had been delivered as intended. However, most POWs rarely received them.[20] Ex-POW Charles McCartin, interned at Cabanatuan, explained how the packages helped morale, “As soon as we got a taste of it (Red Cross food), the morale of the men just turned completely around … the day before you’d talk to some guy who was ready to call it quits. The next day he was alive and trying to make it home.”[21]