We certainly love our rice in Hawaiʻi. Hawaiʻi consumes the most rice per capita of any state, something like 100 lbs. per person annually!
Rice and the lack thereof played a role in the 1946 sugar strike. The ILWU was faced with the daunting task of ensuring adequate food supplies to feed 75,000 people (26,000 striking workers and their families)! As the strike wore on, rice disappeared from local stores, hoarding was rampant and the union suspected that the employers were trying to starve the workers.
AQ tells the Ricecapade story:
Today, it is possible to get the more nutritious brown rice at many locations, even in your plate lunch, but the overwhelming preference in Hawaiʻi is still for polished white rice. The food industry has attempted to address the nutritional question, by adding supplemental vitamins to some white rice. But even white rice labeled “enriched” may not meet nutritional needs.