When we first moved to Italy wife heard of the Asparagus Festival around Bassano. She drove up and bought a bunch, including the labor-intensive white variety. We were still not used to the 1000 Lira/Dollar thing, and realized she had spent 40 bucks on graze. She was visiting the new neighbors that afternoon and mentioned it.

“Ah, but you bought the blanco. It’s prized!”
“I didn’t know I was buying breeding stock.”

They all laughed and had asparagus sandwiches with mayo.