Advancing Food Security Through Hui Hānai Ka Moku

In September, Vibrant Hawaiʻi launched the second cohort of Hui Hānai Ka Moku, continuing a community-led effort to strengthen food security, support food rescue, and build long-term emergency readiness across Hawaiʻi Island. The initiative is carried out in partnership with Nā Kālai Waʻa and The Healy Foundation, grounding food systems work in both cultural practice and practical application.

This year’s cohort brought together ten community-based groups from across the island, each contributing local insight and shared responsibility for strengthening food systems in their regions. Participants gathered for initial training guided by Nā Kālai Waʻa, whose leadership bridges ancestral knowledge with modern preservation techniques rooted in lived experience.

The training is co-led by Keala Kahuanui, the cook aboard the Makaliʻi voyaging canoe. Keala’s approach to freeze-drying emerged from a clear need: preserving locally sourced crops so voyaging crews could be nourished with healthy, culturally familiar meals while at sea. As Keala shares, she needed “a way to preserve our locally sourced food crops in order to create healthier meals for the crew.” That experience now informs Hui Hānai Ka Moku, grounding preservation not as an abstract concept, but as a tool shaped by care, responsibility, and place.

A core focus of Hui Hānai Ka Moku is freeze-drying—used not only to extend the life of food, but to reduce waste, strengthen food sovereignty, and increase preparedness ahead of future disruptions. Participants explored how this technology can transform excess harvests and rescued food into shelf-stable meals that retain nutrition, flavor, and cultural relevance—foods families can rely on when supply chains are strained or cut off.

Co-instructor Tammy Smith brings a complementary vision centered on access and everyday impact. She imagines a future where more communities have shared access to freeze-drying equipment and skills, reshaping what emergency food can be. Rather than defaulting to highly processed options, Tammy envisions families reaching for something familiar and nourishing—“replacing Cup of Noodles with lūʻau stew,” she says, “where you just add hot water and have a hot, healthy meal ready in two minutes.”

This vision also reframes what it means to keep a 21-day supply of shelf-stable food on hand. Freeze-dried foods, which can last more than 20 years when properly stored, make it possible to plan for emergencies in a way that is both long-term and locally rooted. Looking ahead, Hui Hānai Ka Moku holds an aspiration to explore partnerships with emergency management so that, before and after disasters, locally produced, shelf-stable meals could supplement—or one day replace—imported MREs and HDRs.

As this cohort moves forward, Hui Hānai Ka Moku continues to grow as an islandwide effort shaped by collaboration, cultural grounding, and shared learning—expanding local capacity to respond to uncertainty while strengthening food systems built to last.