Food crisis in Hawaii?

Question

My neighbor says his friends in Hawaii (Oahu island) says the food prices have astronomically skyrocketted so they live on canned tuna these days.

Maybe Hawaii is part of US, but economically much different than U.S.

Is this true?

Answer 1

Fuel costs definitely impact the cost of food in Hawaii. Even if the fish was caught just five miles out in the ocean, few commercial fishing boats are sailboats. Most of them run on some form of fossil fuel, too. Maui Land & Pineapple relocated their operations to some cheaper land, but found that they had to lay off workers when gas prices went up to $4.63, and it was more expensive to carry the fruit to the port.

But bananas that are grown in Hawaii are often more expensive when bought in Hawaii than they are when bought in a store in North America. Does that seem counterintuitive? It has to do with the cost of the real estate the store sits on. Yes, Hawaii is economically much different from the US. In terms of the pattern of property ownership, it more closely resembles Asia or Latin America than it does California, Kansas, New Jersey or Alabama.

Let's back up. I come from a part of the country where the land was taken away from the Cherokee and Chickasaw that were peacefully farming on it. More accurately, the Cherokee and Chickasaw were forcibly removed from the land. Then, the government gave that land to white settlers in chunks of about 160, 240 acres. That seems like a lot of land today, depending on where you live, but the point is the land was divided among millions.

Things went down a little differently in the Kingdom of Hawaii. For one thing, this whole idea of buying and selling the land was as foreign as the idea of buying and selling your brother or your aunt. In fact, the ancient genealogy chants explain that Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai were born of the same parents as the kalo (taro) plant and the Hawaiian people.  

In a dark chapter of Hawaiian History known as the Great Mahele, the chiefs who had responsibility for the watersheds (ahupuaa) in the old system now had legal title in the western sense, and the ability to buy and sell the land.

Within a few decades, most of the land had been sold to the children of missionaries, most of whom came from New England. The watersheds that had provided for the Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiian people) were now plantations for cash crops like sugar and pineapple. When the Hawaiians chose to live off the land and the sea instead of put up with the lunas (overseers) on the plantations, the owners arranged to bring in labor from China, Portugal, the Azores, Puerto Rico, Japan, the Philippines, and many other places.

These days, there are still huge amounts of land owned by the estates of Hawaiian Royalty (Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estates), or missionary families and other Europeans and Americans of the 19th Century (James Campbell Company, Castle & Cooke, Dole, Alexander & Baldwin). Other large chunks of land are controlled by governments (Hawaiian Home Lands, state government agencies, the National Park Service, the US Navy, Air Force, Army, Marines, Coast Guard), or conservation nonprofits (Nature Conservancy, Maui Coastal Land Trust).

So fewer parcels of land are available for residential or commercial development. Much of this is snapped up by people from other places who want a vacation or retirement home, or just like to sit on land until the price appreciates by more money than they would make by working in Hawaii for a year.

I'm guessing the person who thinks that we pay more for food because we're lazy hasn't read this far. Changing your mind because you've learned some new facts? Too much work!

Answer 2

Food prices in Hawaii have always felt high, but as of the past few years things were becoming more than we could handle.

More likely than not, it has to do with rising fuel prices since the vast majority of food is imported from outside the islands. Vog on the Big Island that started getting bad when the new vent opened earlier this year has also hurt local farmers and local produce production. I'm sure that has played a part in hurting food prices as well.

Before we left Honolulu in July, we were pretty much living off of potatoes, eggs, bananas, beans, avocados and onions. Not cheap by any means, but the "cheapest" basic foodstuffs we could afford & eat. Even broccoli and kale were out of our price range unless on sale (and I'd seen Broccoli one sale for $1.99 or less before we left, but never kale). =(

Answer 3

It does seem to me that prices have jumped a bit over the past few months.  I know the last few trips to the supermarket have had me shaking my head.  The Costco rotisserie chicken that seemed like such a great deal at $5 doesn't seem quite so good at $6, for instance.  I figure it all has to do with the price of gas going up.  Now that is seems to be trending downwards, will we see prices start to dip too?  I'm not too hopeful.

Answer 4

Your food would cost alot if you had to ship it via a cargo ship( cheapest) or fly it in on a cargo jet(expensive) on almost a daily basis.the biggest product they bring to market is the tourist industry

Answer 5

Does your neighbor's friend say when the prices skyrocketed? I have lived in Hawaii for more than 3 years and the prices don't seem to have gone up much (if at all) from when I first moved here. They're high, yes, but they haven't increased significantly from what they were 3 years ago. We pay $5 a gallon for milk (on sale almost every day) at Safeway and $3 for a loaf of generic bread. Local eggs are more expensive than eggs produced on the mainland (go figure). Mainland eggs are usually $2-3 for a dozen. Convenience foods (chips, cookies, prepackaged meat slices, etc.) are quite a bit more costly here than on the mainland.

In general, it is more expensive to live in Hawaii than on the mainland (the contiguous 48 states that do not include Alaska and Hawaii). Some people call it the Paradise Tax...what we have to pay for living in such a beautiful and amazing place. I'd love to pay less for groceries, gasoline, rent, and utilities, but I sure wouldn't want to have to move from here to do it! So there you have it.

Answer 6

They have all the resources right there, they're just too lazy to change their habits and eat well on local produce and fish.

Hawaii's so beautiful and the traditional food is healthy and delicious.

The problem is that a lot of Americans live there and so they want things back from their white trash childhood.  So, if they have to pay, let them pay.  They shouldn't be eating that way in the first place.  Let them whine about their damned canned tuna.  They're only completely surrounded by the ocean.

How stupid.

Answer 7

Prices have gone up but have not "skyrocketed."  Since everything from outside is shipped or air-flown, of course all the prices go up faster than on the mainland due to the cost of oil being a bigger part of the cost of food.  If one goes to local farmers' markets and shops wisely it is not necessary to live on canned tuna.  

Answer 8

I can still buy food other than canned tuna. Yes, prices are high. But they have always been. Yes, they have increased in the last years, but they increase elsewhere too. But I agree it is challenging to make a living here if you have a job that only pays you minimum wage or even if you're just making $10-12 an hour. You have to make at least $15 here to be able to afford a somewhat decent life.