La Tomatina: Spain’s iconic tomato food fight

In the small town of Buñol, Spain, in the province of Valencia, it’s not just a bad singer that’s targeted by some unpleasant flying tomatoes!
Around this time, in fact, during the last week of August, more precisely on the last Wednesday of August, twenty thousand tomatoes-wielding participants from across the globe gather in the plaza to paint the town (as well as one another) vivid red.
As a part of a weeklong festival honoring the town’s patron saints, Luis Bertran and the Mare de Deu dels Desemparats (Mother of God of the Defenseless), a title of the Virgin Mary, La Tomatina is probably the biggest food fight in the world.

Before the tomato slinging can commence, a small fleet of trucks lug more than 100 tons of overripe tomatoes into the center of town, Plaza del Pueblo, coming from Extremadura, where they are less expensive
According to tradition, the fight can’t begin until a brave participant clambers up a heavily-greased, two-story-high pole to claim a ham perched at the top.
The signal for the beginning of the fight is firing of water cannons, and the chaos begins.
However, performing such a feat typically takes far too long for those in attendance, and tomatoes are flung long before the ham has been snatched, resulting an unavoidably messy fight thats lasts for about an hour.
After the last tomato has fallen, fire trucks arrive to spray down the town, while a few lucky tomato-drenched fighters get hosed down by friendly residents.

Although no one knows the true origin story of La Tomatina, a strong tradition in the city located about 38 km from Valencia since 1944 or 1945, there are countless theories.
Some believe the initial festival occurred when a few locals flung food from a truck spill, while others believe it began as a tomato-based act of rebellion amongst disgruntled townspeople under Francisco Franco’s rule, a Spanish military general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 1939 to 1975 as a dictator, assuming the title Caudillo.
Other possible theories include more simply a local food fight among friends, a juvenile class war, a volley of tomatoes from bystanders at a carnival parade, a practical joke on a bad musician, and the anarchic aftermath of an accidental lorry spillage.
One popular theory is that disgruntled townspeople attacked city councilmen with tomatoes during a town celebration.
However, one of the more popular legends claims that it began when two local farmers got into a squabble: words were exchanged, tomatoes were tossed, and soon the whole town joined in.
Whatever happened to begin the tradition, it was enjoyed so much that it was repeated the next year, and the year after that, and so on.
The most credited was probably that It all started on the last Wednesday in August in 1945, when a group of kids who were in Buñol’s main plaza to witness a parade got bored watching and decided to join in.
They accidentally knocked someone down and the angry man began striking out and throwing things, including “things” from a nearby vegetable stand that proved irresistible and many people in the crowd began to throw tomatoes at each other.
The following year, the kids purposely repeated the altercation and brought boxes of tomatoes from their houses. Without knowing it, they were about to make history.
Historically, the holiday was banned only during the Spanish State period under Francisco Franco himself for having no religious significance, but returned in the 1970s after his demise.
In that period locals didn’t give up, even though many of those who still tried to participate were arrested. In 1957, the people of Buñol even gathered for a “tomato burial”, a demonstration in which the neighbors carried a coffin with a tomato inside!

Either way, despite its humble beginnings, La Tomatina has grown into a huge deal for the town of Buñol and, even though the fight lasts only an hour, the festival lasts nearly a week, with parades, music, dancing, and a recently added tomato-themed obstacle course.
But these squishy battlegrounds are a now prime destination, and participants have to purchase tickets in advance to claim a spot amidst the coveted flying tomatoes.
In fact, according to official datas, prior to 2013 anywhere from 40,000 to 50,000 (reported to be 50,000 in 2012) people crammed into this huge tomato fight, greatly expanding Bunol’s normal 9,000 person population.
However, since 2013 official ticketing has been in place limiting the number of participants to “only” 20,000 lucky people…

Images from web – Google Research