Russ Parsons knows flavor when he tastes it, and he knows that the best flavor usually isn’t found on the supermarket shelves, where produce is dyed, processed, preserved and sugared beyond recognition. A noted food-and-wine columnist for The Los Angeles Times, Parsons has put together a book entitled How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table.

Parsons appeared on Fresh Air from WHYY and discussed his eternal quest for flavor. He says strawberries are perhaps the fruit that has most suffered from the grower’s efforts to make them more easily transportable. “Strawberries in their original form are very fragile, and over time…[farmers] have been taking measures to make the berry more resilient, and it’s gotten to the point now where you have strawberries that, if you try to cut them with a fork, you would actually bend the fork.” He also tells you more about artichokes than you’d ever care to know.

Listen to the full interview, and read an excerpt on the aforementioned artichoke.