Getting "authentic" ingredients for recipes

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I was reading a discussion on another board about how important it is to chase down authentic, premium ingredients for recipes. I figured that many people would say, yes, it absolutely was. Interestingly, so far more people have been on the side of saying that they don't think it is critical and/or that they usually don't bother. For me, it isn't always possible to obtain specialty items in this area. We have well-stocked grocery stores but no real gourmet food shops like cheese stores or spice shops. There are Mexican food shops and an Asian one. I've had to order spices and dried peppers online before. Some things I've had to find substitutions for or do without entirely. I don't feel like a failure as a cook because I won't spend a day driving all over the state trying to source an obscure thing to make a dish. That isn't what cooking is all about to me. It was nice to see that I am not the only one on that side of the discussion.