Asparagus (a post by Katie Bills)

Today, Beth went to the thrift store. This was the shirt she came home with. Why, you ask? Well, earlier this week, she had her first run-in with asparagus, the most yummy grass you can eat (and no, I've never had the other kind of grass, so there is no comparison here...) Anyway, I started to divulge my usual litany of random information. I, personally, love asparagus (but have a really hard time spelling it...it's a good thing Beth is right here and I can glance at her shirt as I type) and was surprised that Beth had never had the aspergrass (that's how we say in my fam) experience. It's up there as one of the deciding factors when I am choosing things from the menu at a restaurant, right next to avocado (my personal kryptonite) and salmon (I can never cook it on my own so it actually tastes good, so I would rather have someone else do that for me). But I digress from my random piece of information that I shared with Beth. Did you know (a phrase I was famous for as a child) that asparagus makes your pee stink? Well, not necessarily your pee, but my pee definitely. Here's a tidbit from the annals of science (or at least MSNBC):

"WHY DOES YOUR PEE SMELL WHEN YOU EAT ASPARAGUS?"
Asparagus contains a sulfur compound called mercaptan. It is also found in onions, garlic, rotten eggs, and in the secretions of skunks. The signature smell occurs when this substance is broken down in your digestive system. Not all people have the gene for the enzyme that breaks down mercaptan, so some of you can eat all the asparagus you want without stinking up the place. One study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology found that only 46 percent of British people tested produced the odor while 100 percent of French people tested did. Insert your favorite French joke here________________________________.

I wanted to find out more, and there is a contradicting theory here.

Moral of the story: I am one of the 46%. Beth is not. At least she thinks she isn't, but then again, she also is drinking gallons of water a day with this new diet, so she provides a very diluted sample. SO, you can kiss her as...paragus.