Zubin d’souza
Swanton in England is a sleepy little town that currently boasts about 80 brick houses. There may have been far fewer than that number in the year 1322 when this story begins. Apparently in that year, the abbot of the small little parish was the only one who owned a hen. In order to entice his now scattered flock into attending mass, the abbot decided to dole out some of the eggs that he used to collect. It all went totally fine till the river flooded over and marooned the church and prevented the parishioners from attending mass. The abbot did not want his regulars to miss out on their treats and decided to toss the eggs across the river into the waiting hands of the residents. What started off rather innocuously became the source for good wholesome fun that continues to this very day in the form of the highly competitive but addictively engaging ‘Egg Throwing World Championships’!
The championships that still take place towards the end of June each year in the village of Swanton have come a long way since the original abbot’s toss. Competitive teams travelling from as far away as New Zealand construct elaborate mechanisms that resemble ancient trebuchets in a bid to win the title belt.
During the War of the Roses which was a series of English civil wars that took place in the 15th century, the House of Lancaster was engaged in battle against the House of York. In 1455, a battle was raging in Stubbins, Lancashire when troops on either side ran out of ammunition. Not wanting to let a good battle to go to waste, the troops resorted to tossing their local specialties at each other. Black pudding was tossed into the Yorkshire cordon who retaliated by throwing back their famous Yorkshire puddings.
History doesn’t record the number of soldiers who died out of gluttony because surely the products themselves couldn’t create much damage.
This, however, hasn’t stopped history repeating itself each year when the town of Ramsbottom hosts the ‘World Black Pudding Throwing Championship’.
Just outside Boston lies the village of Somerville, Massachusetts. In 1917 a local resident called Archibald Query created whipped together corn syrup, vanilla essence and egg whites to create a decadent and sugary sweet fluffier version of the marshmallow. Appropriately named “Fluff’, the product took on a life and identity of its own. The ‘What the Fluff?’ festival is a madcap adventure of games, events and competitions all based on the central Fluff theme. The most prominent event is ‘fluff jousting’ where competitors square off two at a time on a balance beam and try to knock out the other with fluff covered pool noodles.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the ‘Potato Days’ festival in Barnesville, Minnesota is held to celebrate the humble tuber. Although there are many in the world who may want to thank the modest potato for its contribution to the food security of the world, the folks from Barnesville take it a step further. They create a massive ring from hay bales and fill the centre up with mashed potatoes. Competitors are supposed to wrestle two at a time in the gooey and squishy pile till the winner is announced. Besides bragging rights and a really cool trophy, the winner is left with a heck of a story to tell their grandchildren!
In 1967, the town of Coxheath in England needed a new public hall. A local politician called Mike Fitzgerald found a rather unique way to raise funds. He organised the ‘World Custard Pie Throwing Championship’ where competitors vie to cover their opponents in custard while escaping unscathed themselves. The town hall got built but the tradition continued. At the end of the day it is great fun and all for a good cause.
La Tomatina is probably the world’s most famous food fight that has managed to capture the attention and popular imagination of people across the globe. It takes place annually in the last week of August in the small town of Bunol in Spain. Local residents and tourists throng to this quaint village to participate in a battle that involves over a hundred tons of tomatoes and requires fire trucks to hose off the residue after the revellers have left.
This particular battle is so famous that it has managed to even eclipse the ‘Batalla Del Vino’ or the wine fight that takes place in another Spanish village called Haro. The event that takes place towards the end of June has very simple rules of engagement. Participants try to douse their friends and other contestants in liberal doses of locally produced wine. Halfway through the festival, partakers usually tend to forget that they are in the midst of a war and stop to drink the stuff that they are supposed to be throwing at each other.
Now if we could only ensure that these locally restricted events gained many more participating venues around the world. I am convinced that this would be a sure-fire recipe to end conflicts and wars forever!