Often called the world’s biggest food fight, the La Tomatina festival of Spain has been documented and celebrated in countless film sequences and other forms of pop culture. This is no surprise, because where else will you find the madness of being one of 40,000 people indiscriminately hurling tonnes of ripe tomatoes on each other. La Tomatina is held each year in the Spanish town of Bunol, which lies about 38 kilometers from the city of Valencia. Bunol is located only 30 kilometers from the Spanish mediterranean coast, and blessed with warm sunshine and balmy climate.
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The first documented La Tomatina was a result of a friendly squabble in the town square during the annual parade celebrations on the last Wednesday of August 1945. The perpetrators started hurling tomatoes from the nearby vegetable market at each other as the quarrel heated up. The authorities soon got the situation in control, but a new tradition was born. For the first few years of its existence, La Tomatina wasn’t exactly legal, and participants would often be arrested as a result. It was only after 1957, when the crowd organized a tomato funeral in protest, complete with a giant tomato sitting in a coffin, that La Tomatina was finally allowed to become an official part of the annual parade celebrations.
A shot from La Tomatina festival in Spain. Photo by Erkin
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According to tradition, La Tomatina is usually organized on the last Wednesday of August every year. In 2018, La Tomatina will be organized on the 28th August. On this day, many trucks filled with fresh ripe tomatoes from the neighbouring town of Extremadura are brought into the town square. With all the participants gathered around the Plaza de Pueblo, a blast from the water cannons signals the start of the mayhem disguised as food fight - for the next hour, it’s every man for themselves. Soon the town square is full of mushy tomato pulp. At the end of the hour, a starter’s pistol signals the end of the festival, after which fire trucks hose down the streets to clean them up. The acidic content in the tomatoes helps clean the streets better. Participants can wash themselves off in the nearby Bunol river, or with the help of the friendly locals.
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The closest city to Bunol is Valencia, located in the eastern part of Spain. Flights to Valencia are operative from many major European cities. On the other hand, you can also make the event into a road trip, in order to cover other Spanish towns along the way.
A shot from the Spainsh La Tomatina festival. Photo by MrT
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There are some basic rules that the participants must follow in order to take part in La Tomatina. They are:
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Photo by Reno
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