What's the World's Biggest Food Fight?

On the last Wednesday in August every year, up to 30,000 people participate in La Tomatina, a massive tomato fight in Buñol, Spain. Learn how it goes down in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here there is a mother of
all food fights, and it is Lamentina Tomato Fight. This
is the largest food fight in the world and it
takes place on the last Wednesday in August each year
in the small town of Bugno, Spain, near Valencia. The

(00:23):
fight has gotten so huge that as many as thirty
thou participants descend upon bun Yol to hurl squished tomatoes
at each other. An entire week is dedicated to a
festival with music, food, revelry, and yes, lots of tomatoes.
On that Wednesday, you'll be hard pressed to get anywhere
near the town center where truckloads of tomatoes are brought
in for the big fight. But don't worry. From about

(00:45):
noon to one pm, chances are you can be just
about anywhere in town and still get in on the action.
No one is exactly sure about the origins of Lamentina.
There are stories of a food fight that broke out
between friends and escalated to a full town of fly
ing tomatoes. Other origin stories include anyone from a bad
musician to city councilman getting pegged with tomatoes. By angry

(01:07):
towns people. One story was simply that a tomato truck
turned over in the center of town and people decided
to have a little fun in the aftermath. The most
commonly agreed upon origin has to do with a town
parade full of townsfolk wearing giant headed costumes sometime around
Legend has it, one of these human bubble heads fell
over during the parade after some kids tried to join

(01:27):
in and his costumed head was knocked off. He was
so angry that he started fight with any and all takers.
The local kids retaliated by raiding a nearby tomato stand
and assaulting him with the messy fruits. The following year,
the same kids re enacted the event, and it followed
as such year after year until it was a bona
fide town event. The city council and local police were

(01:48):
less than excited about it and attempted to stop it
at various points over the years, but they eventually embraced
it and the notoriety it brought to the small town
of just nine thousand people. If you want to take
part in the world's largest food fight, you better make
plans ahead of time. The sheer number of people who
come to Bunyol for lactomatina each year versus the actual
size of the town means that it's nearly impossible to

(02:10):
find accommodations there. Your best bet is to reserve a
room at a hotel or hostel in nearby Valencia. Trains
leave for bugnon about once an hour. You should also
heed the following unofficial rules. The start and end is
marked by firecracker. Respect the starting and ending times. You
must crush each tomato before you throw it, and avoid

(02:32):
hitting the tomato trucks. For the first thirty or so
years of the food fight, it was strictly a b
y O t affair. Since though, the ammunition has been
trucked in by Las Colorvarios di San Louis Bertron. Loosely translated,
this means the cavalry or army of San Louise Bertron,
the patron of the town of Bunyan. Roughly two hundred

(02:54):
thousand pounds of tomatoes are brought in for the festival.
That's about a hundred thousand kilos. The police are pretty
forgiving during the fight, as long as nothing violent happens
and the crowd seizes the fight immediately upon hearing that
second firecracker. After that, the partying continues and the clean
up begins. The tomatoes are hosed from the streets into
the sewer system. Locals and shop owners all chip in

(03:16):
on the hosing duties, but the majority of the washing
away comes in the form of fire truck hoses. So far,
the town is reported no nefarious activity or injuries, and
those traveling to Bunnol have been respectful of the tradition
and its rules. If you plan on going to Spain
to take part in lacal Matina, you should heed the
following tips. Do not wear flip flops or any clothes

(03:37):
you care about. Don't throw any kind of non tomato
object in the food fight, including your own shirt. Do
bring a change of clothing, especially if you're traveling by
train to and from Bunyan. Also bring along swimming or
snow skiing goggles to avoid the sting of tomato juice
in your eyes. Make sure your phone and any other
devices like cameras are housed in watertight casings. And finally,

(04:00):
know that there are no spectators at Lacol mcdena. If
you're there, prepare to leave Red. Today's episode was written
by Charles W. Bryant and produced by Tyler Clang. If
you haven't checked out Chuck's new show, Movie Crush, you
can find it anywhere the podcasts are found. Brain Stuff
is a production of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works.

(04:21):
For more in this and lots of other structured, le
messy topics, visit our home planet, how stuff works dot
com and for more podcast from My heart Radio like
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