- 700 metric tons.

That's how many oranges gets thrown in an annual food fight held in Northern Italy.

And they're not the only ones hurling food at one another.

From slinging citrus to catapulting cake, these are traditional food fights from around the world.

(lively music) During the battle of the oranges locals of Ivrea, Italy take to the streets and throw oranges at one another.

This annual event commemorates the defiance of a young woman who inspired a revolution against an evil Duke.

It said that during medieval times, a young woman named Violeta was presented to the Duke who made uninvited advancements towards her.

In return for his bad behavior she decapitated the naughty nobleman, which led to villagers storming the castle and burning it down.

Every year, during the carnival season, the people of Ivrea re-enact this revolt subbing torches and pitchforks for oranges.

They split up into two teams, one team being the townspeople and the other team being the evil Duke's henchmen.

And by the end of the three day battle, an estimated 60,000 crates of rejected oranges from Sicily's winter harvest are thrown.

Spain is home to a bunch of different food slinging festivals, but the largest is La Tomatina held in Bunol, about one hour inland from Valencia.

With around 40,000 participants, this is considered the biggest food fight of its kind in the world.

Every year on the last Wednesday of August, people travel from all over the world to Bunol just to throw tomatoes at one another.

And this isn't like a food fight with teams like Italy's battle of the oranges.

This is an all out food war, where it's every man for himself.

The festivities begin with Palo Jabon, which translates to soap stick.

It's basically a race to see who can climb up a greased wooden pole the fastest to reach the prized Jamon at the top.

The food fight begins once the ham has been retrieved and for a full hour, it's a tomato Bonanza where the streets turn red with tomato juice.

La Tomatina has been going strong since the mid 1940s.

And it became really popular.

It became so popular that it was actually banned in the early 1950s.

Anyone who decided to partake in the illegal festivities was arrested, but the people of Bunol loved their tomato fights so much that in 1957, they protested the ban with a tomato burial.

Locals held a full-blown funeral parade.

They had music, they had a coffin and in that coffin was a large tomato.

Yes, they held a funeral for a large tomato and this is what got the ban on La Tomatina lifted.

Note to self, next time I don't get my way, just hold a fussy funeral.

In 1996, the people of Manitou Springs, Colorado came up with a really clever way to remind people that, hey it is time to throw out those fruit cakes that you've accumulated over the holiday season.

It's called the great fruit cake toss and it's less of a food fight and more of a food Olympics that's held every January.

People gather.

They compete in events to see who could hand throw, slingshot or catapult a fruitcake the farthest.

In one of the most anticipated events, competitors actually engineered cannons to see just how far they could shoot their fruitcake.

In Japan, Setsubun is a bean throwing festival that ushers in spring.

It's not really a food fight among mortal humans, but rather a ritualistic spring cleaning that wards evil spirits away.

Setsubun, which translates to seasonal division generally takes place on February 3rd, which on the Japanese traditional calendar is considered to be the last day before spring.

Throughout Japan families celebrate the ritual called Mamemaki or bean scattering, which calls for people to throw roasted soybeans out of their front door.

Some families celebrate by throwing soybeans at a family member that's dressed up as an Oni or demon.

The ritual is said to drive away these evil spirits, moving bad fortune for the year ahead.

Afterward, the roasted soy beans are eaten to bring good luck.

So which one of these food fights would you like to join in?

Or is there a traditional food fight that we didn't cover?

Let us know in the comments.