The real reason people don’t eat their fruit and veggies is because by the time they get to the local supermarket they are old and tasteless. Plus the fruit is picked before it is ripe and would be tasteless even if fresh. Fast food still provides flavor. Flavor and texture - the two most important things when eating. Biting into a mushy apple or an unripe pear is just not appetizing.
I think that you’re dead right about the quality of grocery store fruits and veggies. When I was a kid, we always had a garden and I *loved* fresh carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. Us grandkids couldn’t get enough of the blackberry patch and were notorious green bean and pea thieves. (We were worse than the rabbits and deer.) I remember the flavor of apples bursting with that first bite.
But the crap I have to choose from at the store is hit and miss. Nowdays, apples are mealy and there’s just a suggestion of the flavor that I remember. Pears are either mushy or green and hard as a rock. The lettuce is bitter as hell. None of the fruits pack a punch. It’s just not the same as it was 30 years ago.
My poor kids have no idea what they’re missing. My son is a T1 diabetic and *hates* all veggies. I force him to eat his salads and he drowns it in dressing to make it possible.
My recent solution is to buy frozen and so far this is working. For the first time, my family is tucking it *all* in - no waste!