I attended a large group dinner recently at which asparagus was served. By the end of the nght, the men’s bathroom smelled exactly like you would expect it to smell after 50 asparagus-eating men had used it repeatedly; I expect the women’s bathroom presented a similar bouquet.
Wish I could say the same. Amazing how fast it hits, too. I’ve been meaning to try an experiment where I urinate into a cup while chewing the first bite of asparagus, just to confirm the immediacy.
I even wonder if it might take effect before ingestion. Aspáragos proteros.
I was going to say, does it really hit that fast? I mean, it takes beets a good several hours (4+) before they show up in my stream. But it sounds from you like it does. I’ve never noticed this asparagus odor, so I wouldn’t know for myself.
I must be one of the people predisposed not to smell it. Either that, or I come from a family predisposed not to make the smell, because I don’t know what the smell is.
Usually I’m the one complaining about smells and tastes: I can taste that bitter taste that some people can’t, and I’m hypersensitive to capsaicin. I deserve to miss out on at least one unpleasantness.
As far as the men’s room stinking vs. the women’s room, though, I’ll bet the women’s room smelled better, and the reason is probably because women almost always flush after peeing, but few men, it’s been my experience, flush urinals. The few times I’ve used men’s rooms, they’ve smelled like stale urine. Women’s rooms just don’t smell as bad.
Soo, what colour would my pee turn if I binged on pickled beets and asparagus? Hmm, perhaps I will experiment. I hypothesize a lovely shade of international orange…
As my username might suggest, I am a baker, professionally.
Sometimes, when cakes are decorated, people want black decoration. It may be school colors, an “old person’s” birthday cake, or something similar.
Anyway, the black paste used to color the frosting is not actually black, but a blue so dark it looks black to the ordinary eye. Eat some of that, and perhaps an hour later, the next time you pee, well, blue and yellow make green. It can be quite startling if you are not expecting it.
I have not noticed an issue with asparagus, but I do with shrimp. Over Christmas we visited the folks down in NOLA and I binged on like 4 pounds of boiled shrimp from the shack down the street. Smelly pee for three days…I was mortified worrying that I smelled like it in general. It was worth it, though…yummy.
Green pee from food coloring, Baker? Huh - that’s a new one on me; I’ve heard of green poo from the same thing (like when I’ve had a binge of cheap licorice; better stuff doesn’t do it for some reason).
Re asparagus: I’m one of the “blessed” with that. Certainly within an hour, probably less, and the effect lasts at least 12 hours.
Here’s the thing though: I’m pretty sure it’s Unca Cecil’s fault. I never noticed the issue prior to reading that column. Then again, I can’t say as I’d ever made any particular effort to smell the output…
I was just reading up on this a few days ago when I had offensive odors happening. I don’t think there’s been a conclusive study done, but the general conclusion was that everyone makes the smelly urine, but only a certain percentage of the population can smell it. If I cook up and eat a bunch the size they bundle at the store, it’s like something died in the bathroom! I try to limit consumption, not too much at a time, because of that.