That NY scene

JR's dad comes from a traditional Italian=American family with deep roots to the local neighborhood. The neighborhood, in fact, which is still home to a thriving Italian-American community, with the cheese shops, butchers, restaurants and of course, bakeries to prove it. We live one block central from the famed Italian Market - a foodie's dream location. We live one and one half blocks from an Italian pastry shop that has been delighting the locals since 1904 - and has the long lines on holidays to prove it.

So explain to me why JR's dad asked me to wander into NY's Little Italy at lunch to pick up a pound of cookies for Thanksgiving with his family? He didn't even care which bakery - as long as the cookies came from New York.

And I did it, knowing that the cookies will taste no different than our local homegrown ones (in fact, perhaps they won't even be as good) - but the fact that they come from NEW YORK CITY! will make them oh so much more appreciated by my in-laws.

As a native Philadelphian who happened to have been raised elsewhere - I've never bought into this idea that Philadelphia is some kind of second class city. Now how do I convince the natives?