David in Normandy wrote:
I've had similar responses from people, surprisingly some pensioners who
lived through food shortages during the war. One old lady refused to eat
any of my fresh home grown greens because they had the odd caterpillar
hole or similar damage. She preferred to buy perfect looking but
pesticide ridden limp greens from the supermarket.

Perhaps they're working on the basis that they've done their stint having to
live through a food shortage, and now they deserve to be able to eat as much
pesticide as they like.

I too have had people turn up their noses at root vegetables because
they had traces of soil on them! Some people are really bizarre!

To be honest, the one thing I hate most about home grown veg is the amount
of washing off soil that one has to do. I like the potatoes that come out
clean. They're great. :-)