In Norway, people are usually good about "stand on the right, walk on the left"... Usually.
What people do not and cannot understand, however, is the idea of walking on one side of a two-way stair or corridor. Nope, everyone from both directions has to spread out over the whole thing and run into each other.
And there are a lot of issues with supermarket produce, not least of which arising from our desire (and thenceforth our demand) for constant access to veggies that grow in different climates and that are not currently in season. That, combined with expectations for appearance and "freshness" creates an entirely unrealistic set of requirements for the industry, which they solve by just throwing mass quantities at it and sorting out the ones that work (as well as a number of other practices, such as early harvesting and occasionally dumb shit like using polyethylene to re-wax apples). The result is a whole lotta waste of farmland, transportation, and, ultimately, the produce itself.
Canned/frozen vegetables are actually much better in this case (though certainly not without their own failings! See: Sodium content of many tinned goods), but they're generally stigmatized as being a "cheap knockoff" of the "real, fresh" produce on display. I won't deny that fresh produce has texture and taste profiles that are considerably different from their packaged varieties, I'm just talking about the whole logistics economy thingy.
So, basically... Shop at your local farmer's market, if you're in one of the places that has those. The difference between industrial supermarket produce and locally/home-grown stuff is massive, but you have to put up with the reduced convenience.
Honestly, I'm just as bad as anyone else. I buy a lot of things that are either exotics or out of season, and I'm honestly kind of a picky eater when it comes to browned/shriveled spots on produce, in addition to wanting something that requires the least amount of processing before I can eat it. I just really don't have the energy to do a lot of chopping and peeling most days.
But, hey, at least I feel guilty about doing all that! And that's what really counts, right?
Oh, wierd, were you around when I was ranting about Norwegian supermarkets trying to replace bulk leeks with pre-packaged single stalks with the
greens cut off? Price by weight was also increased by 400% due to the added convenience.