Berlin’s Dirty Food Fight

January 15, 2009 | Filed under Featured, Fun

IT is supposed to be a traditional food fight, but Berlin’s latest Wasserschlacht battle was a dirty encounter – with combatants slinging rotten fish and dirty nappies at each other.

Held every July since 1998, the Wasserschlacht sees two battling Berlin districts – Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg – meet on the Oberbaumbrücke Bridge to pelt each other with eggs, flour, fruit and foam-rubber clubs.

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Hard hat ... almost 1000 stinking soldiers kitted out in protective outfits such as helmets and shields met on the Oberbaumbrücke Bridge for the annual Wasserschlacht battle / Reuters

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Siege mentality ... held every July since 1998, the Wasserschlacht sees Berlin districts Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg pelt each other with eggs, flour, fruit and foam-rubber clubs / Reuters

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Stink bomb ... this year's event saw the two sides arm themselves with salted herring and used nappies / Reuters

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Flour power ... but some did stick to traditional flour and water bombs / Reuters

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Take that ... while some enjoyed pelting others with rotten food, others took the whole battle a little too seriously / Reuters

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Masked avenger ... some street soldiers came to battle well prepared / Reuters

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Freedom fighters ... while others went for the more natural 'Braveheart' look / Reuters

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Flashpoint ... this soldier decided the best way to avoid a huge cleaning bill was to fight topless / Reuters

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Colourful characters ... for some the Wasserschlacht battle was a chance to finally fit in to society / Reuters

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Fire fight ... the event has been known to get a bit out of hand in the past, with vehicles and buildings set aflame

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Easy rider ... while some fought hand-to-hand, others took a more relaxed approach / Reuters

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Grime fighter ... Batman took time out from keeping crime off the streets of Gotham to take part in the even / Reuters

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Clean winners ... this year's Food Fight winners were the Friedrichshain, who are yet to lose a battle / Reuters

lsamsa

Wow…huge surprise…it's mostly men!!!!
Boaf

You call it fun, I call it waste.
wallSHIT

Both of these previous comments have been made by a feminist with a life-long grudge and an old man on who wishes he was young again.
Boaf

Wrong for me. I'm 25 and I simply believe such food could actually have been eaten. I don't need to remind anybody that more than 75% of the world is starving right now.

You have a rather poor way of judging people. Narrow-minded and shallow. Often the sign of clueless stupidity.

But hey! Ignorance is bliss they say. Be happy that way.
MrGrey

75% of the world is starving? Source please?
66% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security
“In 2006, MSNBC reported that globally, the number of people who are overweight has surpassed the number who are undernourished – the world had more than one billion people who were overweight, and an estimated 800 million who were undernourished.”
“852 million people are chronically hungry due to extreme poverty,”
Lets see now 852000000/6500000000 = 0.131076923 = not quite 75% ?
I suppose oh high and mitghy Boaf that you’ve never wasted any food yourself? Never been to a retaurant? Restaurants of all types waste huge amounts of food every day and by eating in a restaurant you’re complicit in that waste. You have a rather poor way of pulling statistics out your ass. Narrow-minded and shallow. Often the sign of clueless stupidity.
Aint self righteousnes grand? lol.

Back on topic that food fight looks like a lot of fun! Some great photo’s there as well.
Boaf

You’re missing my point AND backing it up: I’m questioning a value (wasting food is fun), based on a fact (people are starving) not a statistic which is probably wrong on my side (sorry, my bad)’cause I don’t have time to waste looking for the info on the internet, time to tell people what they already should know, as we live in a society already saturated with info. The crucial point is that TOO MANY PEOPLE NEED FOOD, it’s not about finding out how many of’em there are really… People are probably starving in your hometown anyway, no need to look very far.
THe question is: do you want to care about them or not? Do you want to pose consequent actions in your world? Or waste time criticizing the tone of a still valid point on the internet?

Still, 825 million IS a pretty f***ing big amount of people, so thanks for backing my point.

But if you want to play the source game, we can question your sources: you’re backing your info about malnourishment by looking at an article on obseity! – the irony!! – ever heard of manipulation by statistics? what do you think you can find between extreme starvation and obesity (which is extreme overweight), only normal and well nourished people? A kid missing one meal everyday may not enter the “chronically hungry due to extreme poverty” category, but he (or she) WILL have difficulty concentrating and developping certain cognitive abilities necessary to progress in life! And that is a well-known and established FACT!

Since you’re so keen on finding stuff on the web, here’s what you can do: google “cuommunity kitchens”, “community gardens”, “guerilla gardening” or even “dumpster diving” to learn what people are actually doing for the hungry and underprivileged right now, that those people throwing food at each other are having “a lot of fun” undoing. There are organisations in every major city of the east and west coast of USA and Canada indulging in this kind of “self-righteousness”.