Why are foods that come from a certain area considered more desirable to eat in that area, than the foods from that same area that are shipped in to another state?

One time my ex and I visited my Mom, in Washington. She had arranged for a charter fishing boat some place in Oregon. We each quickly caught our limit of salmon (2 each.)
I can’t remember the details…it was 35 years ago, but to make a long story short, the folks hosted the fishing trip instructed us to pack it in dry ice…or maybe they packed it for us….and it flew home on the plane with us.

I don’t know how many days later we thawed it out and invited some friends over for a grill and it was soooooo good! So good.

The only thing I think could have been better is if we’d caught it that day and cooked it that same night. But would that have made any difference really?

For several years after my mom moved “home” to Seattle, when my sisters and I were still teenagers, she was always trying to lure us up there too. My mom listened to my comments about how good it was, and said, “You don’t get anything like that in Kansas!”
I said…“Um, do they have fresh, frozen salmon at the grocery stores there in Puyallup, and is it good?”
She said “Of course! It’s wonderful!”
I said, “What’s the difference between fresh frozen salmon in the grocery stores there, and in the grocery stores here? They probably catch them, freeze them and send them out. They probably get to the stores here faster than we got ours home. ”
She said, “Oh Val! You just ruined it!”

So what’s the difference?