Imagine visiting an upscale organic market in the US… the fruits… the roots… the vegetables… the wallet-burning prices…

You pick up a few interesting things to try, pay your $157.98 at the checkout, go home and make something to eat with your purchases. The taste is good… but the experience is expensive.

In the tropics, the local market is like a gigantic Whole Foods… without the high prices – and without the extended travel time from field to shelf.

Even “poor” people eat like kings. Those amazing fruits cost pennies on the dollar.

Of course, if you want Frosted Flakes or Blue Krock Kountry Margarine (now with MORE delicious TransFatty Goodness(TM)!), you’ll pay through the nose.

In the supermarket I found local rum for roughly $7 a bottle… and peanut butter for around $8 a jar. I’d say that reflects proper priorities.

Anything from outside an island nation costs plenty to bring in… yet the locally grown food beats the living daylights out of the fare in the US. Fresh tuna steaks? $2.50 a lb. And don’t even get me started on the other meat. It’s ALL free range and grass-fed. Not much in the way of factory farming here (except for the occasional chicken house, unfortunately).

Of course, with the local fruits and vegetables being so amazing, one could do pretty well without much in the way of meat.

Who needs meat when you have piles of avocados, breadfruit, local honey, yams and farm eggs?

Beyond those essentials, the spices are also awe-inspiring:

Pop quiz: what is that thing?