The most important item in the diet of the internees was bread which along with tea and vegetable soup, sometimes with a bit of meat, comprised every meal. Prior to the arrival of the internees, the Japanese set up a bakery in the compound and they provided flour. Two elderly Persian bakers were among the internees and they trained a corps of internee bakers to staff the bakery. In 1944 the Japanese reduced the supply of flour and rationing of bread began.
