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!
I like frozen vegetables, too. They say (who knows?) that they are picked and flash-frozen at the height of their ripeness.
Also, kids like to eat food that they’ve grown or hand-picked. I actually ate blueberries as a kid because we picked them in the wilds of Maine. Such fun! But I couldn’t be persuaded to eat them at home in the city. I also think children’s taste buds are not fully developed - fruit and veggies don’t have enough salt or sugar to really interest them. That interest comes at a later age. Just a quack theory on my part.