MacGougan at Large
Notes from Hawaii (Redux) - 2
Lunch Plate
Our dining in Hawaii was mostly a mix of fancy dinners and improvised breakfasts and lunches. One day, when we needed something more substantial at midday, we discovered the Lunch Plate. A Lunch Plate is what might be called a blue-collar dining option if anyone wore a collar in Hawaii. It’s hearty but not fancy. The plate is divided into three sections as follows:
A helping of a tangy, eggy macaroni salad that by itself is worth the price of admission;
A helping of plain white rice;
A helping of meat or fish with a sauce or gravy.
One evening we attended a Luau with a show. The buffet dinner had additional options, but the starting point seems in retrospect to have been pretty close to a Lunch Plate.
Food Insecurity
It was pointed out to us by multiple people that Hawaii imports something like 97% of its food supply and that, if outside food supplies were ever cut off, the islands would run out of food in about three days.
My first reaction was to shrug. Isn’t that the economy we all live in? Large-scale food creation tends to be centralized in rural areas. Population centers don’t feed themselves. Here in Connecticut, where I live, we probably also import something like 97% of our food.
But Connecticut isn’t out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We get our supplies, not just from boats and airplanes, but largely from trains and trucks. It would be pretty tough for a hostile power to lay siege to Connecticut. Although, even as I write those words, I have to admit that the world has become crazy enough that I’m able now to imagine New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island creating an unholy alliance against us. Starve us into submission, then divvy up our land. Rhode Island, of course, could use more land, but most of it would likely be taken by the others, with the towns full of Yankees fans going to New York and the towns full of Red Sox fans going to Massachusetts.
