Every year, EWG (Environmental Working Group http://www.ewg.org/ ) publishes its list of fruits and vegetables in order of amount of pesticides they contained after being washed.
Here’s the whole list: https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/full-list.php
So, what does this mean in real life? I tend to go to pretty extensive lengths to get organic when an item hits the top 12. If a fruit or vegetable is low on the list, I will buy non-organic because the price difference can be significant.
Although you may choose to go organic for some or most of your produce, wash everything before you start to prepare the food. Even in nature there’s some stuff you don’t want to eat!
After years of following the list, I’ve noticed that bugs don’t like eggplant(#41 out of 47 in 2019) any more than your average 5 year old, but we happen to love it, so I buy the cheapest eggplant I can find.
I’ve added some of my favorite recipes, including several eggplant dishes that we’ve enjoyed under the Recipes tab.