We'll buy a pint of massive, red, perfect looking berries that have zero flavor before we'll buy a smaller, dented berry that has the best flavor on the planet. Add to that the berries tend to be picked green and shipped long distances and you have the perfect maelstrom for the next 'red delicious' debacle.
They buy on size and appearance signals that, within familiar varieties, correlate very strongly with taste, because you can't taste offerings in the store to choose which to buy.
This is then exploited by the commercial supply chain in a way which proves Goodhart’s Law.
That's a very interesting example of Goodhart's Law in action, and one that broadens the circumstances when I think about it applying. Thanks.
I think people don't really taste with any attention at all. They eat in a rush, preoccupied, and the ingredients may be mashed together into some mix. As long as something isn't incredibly off, they'll not consider it a "lesser" taste, this is just how a strawberry tastes.
...until you take the time to demonstrate the vastly superior taste.