Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here there is a mother of
Speaker 1: all food fights, and it is Lamentina Tomato Fight. This
Speaker 1: is the largest food fight in the world and it
Speaker 1: takes place on the last Wednesday in August each year
Speaker 1: in the small town of Bugno, Spain, near Valencia. The
Speaker 1: fight has gotten so huge that as many as thirty
Speaker 1: thou participants descend upon bun Yol to hurl squished tomatoes
Speaker 1: at each other. An entire week is dedicated to a
Speaker 1: festival with music, food, revelry, and yes, lots of tomatoes.
Speaker 1: On that Wednesday, you'll be hard pressed to get anywhere
Speaker 1: near the town center where truckloads of tomatoes are brought
Speaker 1: in for the big fight. But don't worry. From about
Speaker 1: noon to one pm, chances are you can be just
Speaker 1: about anywhere in town and still get in on the action.
Speaker 1: No one is exactly sure about the origins of Lamentina.
Speaker 1: There are stories of a food fight that broke out
Speaker 1: between friends and escalated to a full town of fly
Speaker 1: ing tomatoes. Other origin stories include anyone from a bad
Speaker 1: musician to city councilman getting pegged with tomatoes. By angry
Speaker 1: towns people. One story was simply that a tomato truck
Speaker 1: turned over in the center of town and people decided
Speaker 1: to have a little fun in the aftermath. The most
Speaker 1: commonly agreed upon origin has to do with a town
Speaker 1: parade full of townsfolk wearing giant headed costumes sometime around
Speaker 1: Legend has it, one of these human bubble heads fell
Speaker 1: over during the parade after some kids tried to join
Speaker 1: in and his costumed head was knocked off. He was
Speaker 1: so angry that he started fight with any and all takers.
Speaker 1: The local kids retaliated by raiding a nearby tomato stand
Speaker 1: and assaulting him with the messy fruits. The following year,
Speaker 1: the same kids re enacted the event, and it followed
Speaker 1: as such year after year until it was a bona
Speaker 1: fide town event. The city council and local police were
Speaker 1: less than excited about it and attempted to stop it
Speaker 1: at various points over the years, but they eventually embraced
Speaker 1: it and the notoriety it brought to the small town
Speaker 1: of just nine thousand people. If you want to take
Speaker 1: part in the world's largest food fight, you better make
Speaker 1: plans ahead of time. The sheer number of people who
Speaker 1: come to Bunyol for lactomatina each year versus the actual
Speaker 1: size of the town means that it's nearly impossible to
Speaker 1: find accommodations there. Your best bet is to reserve a
Speaker 1: room at a hotel or hostel in nearby Valencia. Trains
Speaker 1: leave for bugnon about once an hour. You should also
Speaker 1: heed the following unofficial rules. The start and end is
Speaker 1: marked by firecracker. Respect the starting and ending times. You
Speaker 1: must crush each tomato before you throw it, and avoid
Speaker 1: hitting the tomato trucks. For the first thirty or so
Speaker 1: years of the food fight, it was strictly a b
Speaker 1: y O t affair. Since though, the ammunition has been
Speaker 1: trucked in by Las Colorvarios di San Louis Bertron. Loosely translated,
Speaker 1: this means the cavalry or army of San Louise Bertron,
Speaker 1: the patron of the town of Bunyan. Roughly two hundred
Speaker 1: thousand pounds of tomatoes are brought in for the festival.
Speaker 1: That's about a hundred thousand kilos. The police are pretty
Speaker 1: forgiving during the fight, as long as nothing violent happens
Speaker 1: and the crowd seizes the fight immediately upon hearing that
Speaker 1: second firecracker. After that, the partying continues and the clean
Speaker 1: up begins. The tomatoes are hosed from the streets into
Speaker 1: the sewer system. Locals and shop owners all chip in
Speaker 1: on the hosing duties, but the majority of the washing
Speaker 1: away comes in the form of fire truck hoses. So far,
Speaker 1: the town is reported no nefarious activity or injuries, and
Speaker 1: those traveling to Bunnol have been respectful of the tradition
Speaker 1: and its rules. If you plan on going to Spain
Speaker 1: to take part in lacal Matina, you should heed the
Speaker 1: following tips. Do not wear flip flops or any clothes
Speaker 1: you care about. Don't throw any kind of non tomato
Speaker 1: object in the food fight, including your own shirt. Do
Speaker 1: bring a change of clothing, especially if you're traveling by
Speaker 1: train to and from Bunyan. Also bring along swimming or
Speaker 1: snow skiing goggles to avoid the sting of tomato juice
Speaker 1: in your eyes. Make sure your phone and any other
Speaker 1: devices like cameras are housed in watertight casings. And finally,
Speaker 1: know that there are no spectators at Lacol mcdena. If
Speaker 1: you're there, prepare to leave Red. Today's episode was written
Speaker 1: by Charles W. Bryant and produced by Tyler Clang. If
Speaker 1: you haven't checked out Chuck's new show, Movie Crush, you
Speaker 1: can find it anywhere the podcasts are found. Brain Stuff
Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: For more in this and lots of other structured, le
Speaker 1: messy topics, visit our home planet, how stuff works dot
Speaker 1: com and for more podcast from My heart Radio like
Speaker 1: Movie Crush, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.