I'll see you in my dreams

I’m reading a book about a civilian prisoner of war, a British citizen, born in Shanghai in 1921. As WWII approached, she boarded a ship for the United States where she had relatives and got as far as the Philippines by December 7, 1941. She and the other internationals were interned in a Japanese prison camp (a former college campus) for four years. In 2001 she wrote her memoirs based on the diaries she had kept during those years.

Getting enough food was a constant worry. Being a person of privilege who had grown up with servants, she had no idea how to prepare food, plus nutritious food was scarce and expensive. Everyone lost weight and developed various nutritional deficiency diseases.

This next part will sound familiar. The main topic of conversation among the internees was food, recipes and what they would eat when liberated. Food was the first thing on their minds upon waking, and they dreamed about food. One woman exchanged a 1/2 pound of butter for a cookbook so she could look at the pictures of food!

The author counteracted this problem in two ways: 1) she was an excellent artist and kept herself busy doing portraits, and 2) she helped in the infirmary taking care of others. This kept her mind off her constant hunger and kept her out of conversations about food. I think there is a message here.