"Asparagus belongs to our city like nothing else," he instructed me. My target was Schwetzingen, a metropolis of virtually 22,000 that is Germany’s self-proclaimed asparagus capital. By the point I arrived for dinner, I was in a full-on asparagus frenzy. It’s the third time the top two sleds have finished tied in an Olympic two-man race. Germans devour some 127,000 tons of the vegetable each year; it’s so ubiquitous that supermarkets herald asparagus-peeling machines (the outer pores and skin o...

"Asparagus belongs to our city like nothing else," he instructed me. My target was Schwetzingen, a metropolis of virtually 22,000 that is Germany’s self-proclaimed asparagus capital. By the point I arrived for dinner, I was in a full-on asparagus frenzy. It’s the third time the top two sleds have finished tied in an Olympic two-man race. Germans devour some 127,000 tons of the vegetable each year; it’s so ubiquitous that supermarkets herald asparagus-peeling machines (the outer pores and skin o...