What are the challenges to the food system in Hawai‘i? Food and Power explores issues facing the way we eat and produce (or do not produce) food in Hawai‘i. Given Hawai‘i’s island geography, high dependence on imported food has been portrayed as the primary problem and localization has been the dominant solution proposed. But the book argues that much more is needed to transform the food system to something that is just, equitable, as well as secure and healthy. The chapters in this book point out that the challenges are much more diverse: energy-intensive farming, gendered and racialized far ... More

What are the challenges to the food system in Hawai‘i? Food and Power explores issues facing the way we eat and produce (or do not produce) food in Hawai‘i. Given Hawai‘i’s island geography, high dependence on imported food has been portrayed as the primary problem and localization has been the dominant solution proposed. But the book argues that much more is needed to transform the food system to something that is just, equitable, as well as secure and healthy. The chapters in this book point out that the challenges are much more diverse: energy-intensive farming, gendered and racialized farming population, controversies over the ownership and benefits/costs of biotechnology, high food insecurity for marginalized communities, and stratified access to nutritious foods. Defying the reductive approach that looks only at calories or tonnage of food produced/consumed in the state as the indicator of the soundness of food system, the book points out how food problems are necessarily layered with other socio-cultural and economic problems and uses food democracy as the guiding framework. The chapters explore various issues, from agriculture, land use, and colonialism to biotechnology, agricultural tourism, and farmers' markets, and explore how these issues relate to movements toward food democracy.