Good points. In California, you really should be able to buy every kind of produce when it's in season. And it's going to taste much better than something that was picked early so it could last on a ship for a week before hitting a store shelf. What is the price difference, though? The irony here in Hawaii is that a hand of bananas from Ecuador is cheaper than a locally-grown banana, so it prevents many from buying local. Regarding the tap water, I too grew up drinking bottled water as well as filtered because I thought the tap tasted gross. But now that I think about it, can it really be that bad? I mean, California isn't a third-world country! Are you really going to get dysentery from it?