Yes, because (ultra) processed food tends to be much more cheaper than un- or minimally altered food.
Think of ordinary tomatoes for example. In its raw form a tomato goes bad after a few weeks (depending on how it's stored), as a store you got to discard a bunch of them before that time because the tomato develops blemishes from handling/storage, and the tomatoes have to be handled more sensitively and with more effort.
Now, take that tomato and can it straight after harvest, together with a bunch of preservatives. It now has a far longer expiration time in the order of years, it doesn't need cooling, and tomatoes that come from the field with blemishes can now be used as well, just cut them up, remove the unsightly pieces and sell it as cut-up canned tomatoes.
From here on, the calculation is the same for both kitchens and low income populations... both need tomatoes to cook a meal. So what do they prefer? Fresh tomatoes where one now also needs to take care of leftover tomatoes and do another meal before they expire, or canned tomatoes that are cheaper to source and easier to match with actual demand?
Jarred/canned tomatoes might be the worst example. You barely need to try to make the preservation mechanism work. The pH of tomatoes tends to be very low and it's very easy to pull it down with lime juice, etc.
The highest quality marinara almost universally starts with something like an ordinary can of San Marzano tomatoes. This isn't some exotic find at Whole Foods. This will be collecting dust on the shelves at Kroger and Brookshires.
Buying fresh produce 100% of the time is theatrics. There are a lot of things it's a good idea for, but you are genuinely wasting your time in other areas.
> Now, take that tomato and can it straight after harvest, together with a bunch of preservatives.
What preservatives are we talking about, citric acid? I checked the ingredient lists of Mutti and Heinz canned tomatoes (EU resident). Mutti contains exactly 2 ingredients: whole tomatoes and tomato juice, Heinz 3: whole tomatoes, tomato juice and citric acid.
Think of ordinary tomatoes for example. In its raw form a tomato goes bad after a few weeks (depending on how it's stored), as a store you got to discard a bunch of them before that time because the tomato develops blemishes from handling/storage, and the tomatoes have to be handled more sensitively and with more effort.
Now, take that tomato and can it straight after harvest, together with a bunch of preservatives. It now has a far longer expiration time in the order of years, it doesn't need cooling, and tomatoes that come from the field with blemishes can now be used as well, just cut them up, remove the unsightly pieces and sell it as cut-up canned tomatoes.
From here on, the calculation is the same for both kitchens and low income populations... both need tomatoes to cook a meal. So what do they prefer? Fresh tomatoes where one now also needs to take care of leftover tomatoes and do another meal before they expire, or canned tomatoes that are cheaper to source and easier to match with actual demand?