Recipes New and Different

Neither time nor space would allow me to list all the concoctions or recipes we figured out in the months of prison life. The desire for food was the strongest one among most of the men. The talk, dreams, and thoughts had food as the theme. Can you imagine your stomach gnawing with hunger for five long months? That's the way it was with us. We tried many dishes but regardless of failure or success we always ate it. Whenever the dish happened to be a new one there would be an audience to see the expression of satisfaction or displeasure on the face of the "chef-of-the-moment."

We all learned the art of taking the "goon bread" and making things out of it. "Goon bread" was the Nazi G. I. ration which was 60 per cent wheat, 38 per cent rye and 5 per cent sawdust. The wheat and rye gave food value and the sawdust was filling. It might have been baked months before but regardless of mold we ate every crumb. We used it as the base ingredient of all our cooking. We made pudding, cake, doughnuts and pies out of it. Although we made many things they all tasted the same. We did that to give us something to do.