The selection of fresh produce was [...] even better than our local organic grocery store that gets its food from local farmers.
Not sure why that would be surprising. Buying from local farmers inherently means limiting yourself to local crops. So for example no southern hemisphere crops in the off season, no tropical crops of any kind, etc... Expanding one's options to be able to fly stuff in from anywhere in the world is always going to improve selection.
The complaints about non-local food are about things like sustainability, pesticide regulation, energy budget, etc... No one sane claims it doesn't taste good.
Actually, a lot of people complain that non-local food doesn't taste good. Local food is usually picked closer to being ripe and usually arrives in the store or market sooner after being picked. For both of these reasons it should taste better.
Obviously depends on crop and circumstance. What you say is often true. That said: if it's early spring and I have the choice between an Oregon-grown apple and a flown-in New Zealand Fuji (or Chilean/Peruvian asparagus, often available and yummy during the winter), there's really no contest.
Does that make it "good" to eat the airborne food? Certainly not by many measures. But you can't just pretend that "local == better" if you want to win arguments either.
Not sure why that would be surprising. Buying from local farmers inherently means limiting yourself to local crops. So for example no southern hemisphere crops in the off season, no tropical crops of any kind, etc... Expanding one's options to be able to fly stuff in from anywhere in the world is always going to improve selection.
The complaints about non-local food are about things like sustainability, pesticide regulation, energy budget, etc... No one sane claims it doesn't taste good.