

Clean is a misnomer. We’re covered in bacteria and filled with bacteria. The air around us is thick with yeast. The second you wash any pan it is immediately reinnoculated with stuff around it. If you throw the concepts of brewing and canning at clean and you’ll find that nothing that we have is clean.
The bar for cookware is safe and doesn’t impart bad flavors to the food.
But this isn’t to say that you should or have to use it, But you ask why the rest of us do, It’s because it’s as clean as is necessary to cook great safe food.
I absolutely don’t baby mine. If a little salt will get it good, that’s what it gets. If I have something more difficult, soap and a scrubbie, if that fails, I’ll go all the way up to steel wool if I need to. If the cure starts to look a little ratty or start flaking, I just strip it in lye, de-rust it in vinegar, oil it, call it a hot dog day and fire up the grill to re-cure it. Comes out like magic every time.