[Blarg]

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I differentiate the "huge" difference by whether I would eat it or not. I dont really thing veggies/steak/etc is that big of a deal. If an apple is picked right of the tree, yes, thats awesome and better than an apple from the store, but Im still going to eat both, and have them taste pretty much the same. Same with steaks, etc, a usda prime aged steak, is great, but Im still going to eat a plain old sirloin just as well. Things I will not eat, unless purchased from a specialty store: sausages (Ive never/never will eat a normal grocery store peice of salsissa/brat/etc).

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See, I don't think stuff in the supermarkets tastes anywhere near as good as the fresh stuff, guids. Everything in the supermarket starts to merge into the flavor of a potato - oranges, apples, papayas, even strawberries, which are often flavorless in supermarkets. Sugars really do turn into starches, on the one hand, and on the other, fruits and vegetables are usually picked far too early for their flavors to develop and to get enough sugar into them.

Fruits are a very clear example of freshness making the difference. I remember that on rare visits to the states when I was growing up on Guam, we were astounded at how different the fruit tasted from roadside stands as opposed to the oldest stuff in the world, which was the stuff shipped to Guam. It was like friggin' candy over here! I still notice the difference hugely to this day. Supermarket fruit is often very dull. Sometimes I just throw it away because it tastes like nothing.