Parmesan Cheese

I have never understood why people like Parmesan cheese - it smells like vomit! I mean seriously, it smells like vomit, so how can that be tasty?

The chemical basis for this is butyric acid. Wikipedia on butyric acid: "It is found in rancid butter, parmesan cheese, vomit, and body odor." See, I told you so. And no, I didn't edit the article.

Back in 1968, I had a summer job as a, ahem, Cobol programmer at Standard Oil in downtown Chicago. The Democratic National Convention was just a few blocks away up Michigan Avenue. At lunch hour, we would walk around checking the scene out. All the public indoor places reeked as if from vomit. No one ever commented on this in the news reports, but much later there was an article that said two girls went around every day dropping tissues laced with butyric acid in trash bins and ashtrays. Nowadays, of course, neither trash bins (for fear of bombs) nor ash trays (for fear of ciggies) would be allowed.