La Tomatina tomato fight in Buñol near Valencia happens every year on the last Wednesday in August though the partying starts earlier in the week. The highlight of the festival is the tomato fight which takes place between 11am and 1pm on that day. The event has become one of the highlights on Spain’s summer festivals calendar with thousands of people flocking to this little Valencian town for this chaotic event.
IT'S THE WORLD'S LARGEST FOOD FIGHT
Yup, La Tomatina is a festival that leads up to the worlds largest state-sanctioned food fight. Every year, approximately 40,000 tomato enthusiasts descend on the tiny Mediterranean town of Buñol to pelt each other with tomatoes.
THE FOOD FIGHT ORIGINATED FROM A STREET BRAWL
Back in 1945, during another La Tomatina festivity in Buñol, a street fight broke out when a participant started to pelt everyone with vegetables from a market stall nearby. This led to a whole bunch of people doing the same, a furious vegetable battle ensued, if you will. The following year, the same young people picked a quarrel on purpose and brought their own tomatoes. Although the police broke up the early tradition in the following years, with it being banned in the early 50’s, the vibe and popularity of the food fight lived on. By the town’s people’s wishes the tradition was brought back, this time more regulated.
A SLICE OF HAM MARKS THE BEGINNING OF THE FIGHT
Strangely, yes. Come 10 am on the day of Tomatina, a slice of ham is hung on the top of a greasy pole in the already crowded town square called the ‘palo jabón’. The goal is to climb and retrieve this slice of ham with the crowd chanting and singing in encouragement (while being showered by water hoses). The moment the slice of ham is dropped from the pole, a loud signal goes off, trucks loaded with tomatoes enter and then begins the chaos.
OVER 40 METRIC TONNES OF TOMATOES ARE USED
In a fight that lasts for just an hour, around 150,000 tomatoes meet their fate. The tomatoes used are low- quality, inferior in taste and come cheap from a place called Extremadura.
Do not enter bottles or hard objects because you can cause an accident or damages to your fellow combatants
Do not tear or throw your T-shirt nor others' T-shirts
Squash the tomatoes before throwing them, the hit will be less painful
Keep a safe distance from the lorries
Stop throwing tomatoes when you hear the second warning firework
Follow the security staff instructions
