Does it really taste better??

The wet weather and lack of sun may have contributed to the lack of taste, since the sun is required to make the veg produce sugar especially in fruit. Certainly, my strawberries don't taste of much this year.

However, there probably is a degree of confirmation bias.

mine tastes miles better

I think some things definitely taste better, especially if you eat them soon after picking - strawberries are way nicer than most bought ones, and carrots are sweeter. Didn't notice much difference in the potatoes, but then I don't really eat many potatoes, especially boiled, so tricky to compare! Again, I never buy fresh peas so I can't compare. However... my OH thinks everything is wonderful, and is now eating a much wider variety of veg and salad, so in my book home grown is best - Because He's Worth It! (soz, couldn't pass up that opportunity )

I think most stuff I grow tastes better but some of that is due to freshness, eaten within minutes from the plot will always beat cold stored for ages and shipped round the world.

A lot of supermarket fruit is picked before its ripe so that its less likely to be bruised during packaging.
We would leave our fruit/veg until its ripened on the plant by the sun. Despite my watery raspberries this year, I would never contemplate buying them in a supermarket. As for artificially ripened tomatoes.......

That's very true VC, also supermarkets tend to prefer varieties that can be transported easily which means that soft types of soft fruit which can be very tasty won't get chosen and the types grown / sold is restricted. On my plot I can grow the varieties I really want as I can cope with being careful carrying them home so that they won't bruise which isn't really practical on a larger scale.

Tomato & carrot I would say are going to be the flavours that convince you

not forgetting the parsnips BB ............peas straight from the pod , broad beans picked small before they get their nasty jackets on , courgettes that you can walk round the plot munching on , stringless runner beans .........

I think this year will go down as the year of tasteless fruit and veg. Too much water and too little sun has meant disappointment all round but are we downhearted?

Think on this. If I pick a lettuce leaf it's gone limp and lifeless within a couple of hours at most so how come supermarkets can get them to stay fresh for days?

Chemicals...........?

Not just confirmation bias, I think a lot comes from when we produce something or have some other emotional attachment we cannot judge it rationally and often believe it to be better than it actually is. Think holiday photos, are other peoples photos really that interesting? Not as much as the taker thinks, same with babies and often food we cook or grow.

I still think a lot of home grown food does taste better, it is just yours tastes better than his, hers or even mine..

Agree with VC in that we are able to let crops mature for longer before picking so they get more of a chance to develop flavour than the supermarket veg which is cut down before it reaches its prime. Equally it's nice to pull other stuff prior to it reaching gargantuan size, which is just no good for beans and peas.

IMHO, my toms are far superior to the inspid specimens in supermarkets grown in a Dutch greenhouse, carrots are sweeter, cukes have more flavour, and my first fennel I pulled at the weekend was delicious.

IM(Unhumble)O - some things don't taste any better, but a lot do. I love tomatoes esp in summer and like them in salads, on toast etc. When I use a supermarket tom I have to put salt on it and it tastes great like salty tomato. With a home grown one that is fully ripened in the sun - esp if it is sun warmed still - it has a beautiful taste all of it's own. We havent' had our apple trees long enough to make a good comparision. The first year they were a bit tart still. The next year the birds got them cos I left them on longer, and last year for some reason they all dropped off suddenly when they got big.
I love the taste of green veg esp straight from the garden, it doesn't keep like the stuff from the supermarket, but it's not cold stored either.
There is definately some emotional attachment there, and like Kathyd's OH - there is a lot more interest in trying things by the kids if they've helped grow it or watched it grow.

I look on it as being healthier too - whether you go organic or not, you probably put less stuff into the ground and on the plants, you pick and use, or pick and cook/store much sooner, and younger while there is so much goodness packed into the fruit of the plant, but best of all you get all that weather (was going to say sun), fresh air, time to destress from other life hassles, exercise, quiet contempation, and a bit of a chat with neighbours. It's really a whole lifestyle thing as far as health goes. And taste just tops it off

Sweetcorn fresh from the plant versus mealy maize flown from Peru at £1.50 a cob
A Sungold cherry tomato muched on the way past...or a bullet hard irradiated thing grown in water and shipped in from Spain in Feb.
Asparagus, the first freshly dug spuds, fresh summer cabbage, the peas that don't even make it to the kitchen....
Really no comparison. Sometimes you have to cut some bad bits out or wash off a few bugs....but yes it definitely tastes better. Fair enough...It has been appalling weather....not the best season to judge especially watery fruit!!

Add to that the romance of the veg patch on a warm summers evening...bit like that bottle of cheap. wine that tasted so good whilst relaxing on holiday...brought home to a wet autumn with screaming kids and it is only good for cooking.

Then there is the added value. You have the ingredients to practice and cook so many good things....I tried a mates jar of shop bought strawberry jam...waste of a good scone. I haven't bought a jar in over 10 years.... An onion maybe an onion...but Home made ratatouille and chutney.

Granted it is all a lot of work but most of our food is driven by what we have to use/ what is in season.

Finally means I have to spend very little time or money in supermarkets...'the enemy' in my reality.