Download - Brainshare Public Online Library

Baking bread aboard the catering vessel Mamiya in 1934.
fighting spirit and combat strength. Moreover, food gives us
mental comfort, and sharing meals harmonizes hearts and raises
affection. In other words, peace and harmony on the ship
demonstrate themselves at the table. 60
By the late 1930s specialized catering vessels were accompanying
Japanese navy convoys. For example, the state-of-the-art catering ship
Mamiya carried a 350-man staff engaged in full-time food processing for
the fleet. 61 Mamiya could produce daily 1,000 kilograms of noodles,
14,000 bottles of lemonade, 2,000 portions of ice cream and fresh-baked
bread for 7,500 sailors. Still, bread was not a daily staple in the navy. Food
strikes that took place in response to the introduction after 1890 of meals
centred on bread and ship’s biscuits, to which the young men were utterly
unaccustomed, ultimately led to a return to rice and barley as the staple
in the navy. 62 This experience, however, convinced the navy authorities of
the importance of the taste of served food, and prompted the introduction
of a variety of measures in order to satisfy the sailors’ taste preferences.
For example, in 1935 the accounting division of the second squadron
conducted a dietary survey that included all Japanese battleships. Nearly
500 recipes – the most popular – were recorded and distributed among
all accounting units. 63 A selection from this collection is listed here:
73