MANCHESTER, N.H. – U.S. Representative Chris Pappas (D-NH-01) on March 23 held a small roundtable event on food prices at Diz’s on Elm Street, a conversation that quickly grew to encompass other cost-of-living issues as well.
Diz’s co-owner Judi Window said that global events, and higher fuel prices have rippled through supply chains and that unlike grocery shoppers, restaurants operate on fixed menus and portions and ingredients cannot be swapped during service.
“It’s just uncertain from day to day, moment to moment,” she said.
Manchester resident Karina Bonilla said that she has seen a similar trend in food prices, particularly for specialized foods catering to particular dietary, cultural or religious needs. Many of those foods come from outside of the United States, making them subject to recent changes to U.S. tariff regulations.
She also mentioned the recent discussion in Manchester on school lunch debt, recalling the fear of judgment from her peers when her family needed SNAP support as a child and how even more children now likely have that fear given the rising costs of food.
“People say there are benefits, that it’s not the schools’ job to feed kids, but many of those benefits are inaccessible to average people. There’s also a lot of stigma and shame on relying on them,” she said.
Sherri Harden, a 79-year-old woman at the event, said that she lives on social security and a small pension. Although she did not indicate that she was having trouble with food costs, she expressed fear about recent news she had heard that 1-in-3 Americans are struggling with the costs of food, often choosing between food or medicine or skipping meals so their children can eat.
“Food costs are kind of a core issue that are at the center of our economy. It’s frightning to see the side effects of rising prices every day,” she said.
The other two people at the event were former Democratic state legislators: Heidi Hamer of Manchester and Manny Espitia of Nashua. Hamer echoed Bonilla’s comments, expressing frustration at opposition in Concord to support of the state’s school children and confirming rising food prices from what she’s seen at local supermarkets. Espitia also confirmed rising prices he has seen on food costs as a parent of a two-year-old as those costs combine with rising costs in other areas such as heating oil and childcare.
“This money we thought we could save up, maybe put toward my child’s education, maybe put toward an emergency fund, that money is going away,” he said.
Pappas told the group that he supports suspension of tariffs on agricultural products and a pause on national gas taxes to try and lower costs for average Americans in addition to other measures to build infrastructure supports for food supply chains such as helping people get their commercial driver’s licenses.
Despite the political division in Washington, Pappas believes that work must be done to find common ground to help Americans struggling with rising costs.
“Without a doubt, we shouldn’t be running out the clock until the next election, we can do things right now,” he said.
“Every moment is a chance where we can get something done. We can fight it out in the election and we’ll see how the dust settles, but I think voters are looking for change and a greater focus on an affordable economy,” he added.
NOTE: Diz’s is an advertiser of Manchester Ink Link