*A question for the ages

Yet again, an intense lack of cooking is happening in the 7th floor kitchenette. For breakfast this morning, I ate trail mix from Costco.

The label on the bag states that my Bear Naked trail mix is USDA organic and “inspired by the raw beauty and grandeur of the Sierra Mountains.” Upon further inspection however, I discovered that Bear Naked, Inc. is based out of Darien, Connecticut, pretty much as far away from the Sierra Nevada as you can get. Wait a second—where is my Sierra Nevada trail mix coming from?

A large panel on the back of the bag tells me what makes up the trail mix: cashews, walnuts, almonds, cranberries, raisins, pumpkin seeds, and dark chocolate chips. Two of these, almonds and raisins are “native to” or “grown close to” the Sierra Nevada. The other five ingredients come from nowhere near the mountain range that supposedly inspired this mix.
Further research informs me that cashews are native to Brazil, walnuts to locations worldwide, cranberries to northeastern North America, pumpkins Mexico or Central America, and the cacao tree, the source of chocolate, comes from South America.
Hardly Sierra Nevada territory.

But it’s so tasty! These days, we can eat food from all over the world, whether in season or out wherever we are, shipped thousands of miles. It’s great that there are organic options, but locality is another problem in and of itself. If our organic cranberries have to be shipped across the country, or our organic cashews around the globe, does the impact of the shipping cancel out the benefits of growing and eating organic? Is it more important to eat foods grown locally, without the need to transport them, even if they are not organic, or is it better to eat organic foods that have to be shipped around the world?