That said, you just need to live in pretty much any decent-sized city to have access to good ingredients, and especially if you're comparing a major metro area with a suburb 20 years ago, it's an unfair comparison, as food has become more of an obsession across broad swaths of the culture.
I'm farther from an Indian grocery store today living in a core neighborhood of Brooklyn than when I grew up in Milwaukee or went to school in Pittsburgh. And when I went home to visit Milwaukee, the local food coop had ramps available, just like any hip store in Brooklyn.
Well... it's not all that impressive that Milwaukee has ramps available. Chicago is practically named after them. The region produces them in abundance. But go find good miso in Milwaukee.
I'm farther from an Indian grocery store today living in a core neighborhood of Brooklyn than when I grew up in Milwaukee or went to school in Pittsburgh. And when I went home to visit Milwaukee, the local food coop had ramps available, just like any hip store in Brooklyn.