Tomatina Festival

La tomatina is the festival that is celebrated every year on last Wednesday of August during the week of festivities of Bunol, in the Valencia town of Bunol (located 30 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea). Thousands upon thousands of people make their way from all corners of the world to fight in this 'World's Biggest Food Fight' where more than one hundred metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets. The week-long festival features music, parades, dancing, and fireworks. On the night before the tomato fight, participants of the festival compete in a paella cooking contest.

The Spanish LOVE to eat tomatoes and according to one of the Spain Magazine it is believed that the Spaniards eat 17 kilos per person annually! As with all Mediterranean cuisines, the tomato is an essential ingredient of Spanish cooking. The Spanish eat tomatoes every day and prepare them in a variety of ways, including fresh, crushed, stewed or simmered in a sauce. Tomato sauce is served on the side with fried eggs, chicken, meat and omelettes at most Spanish dinner tables.

La Tomatina festival actually started by accident. According to all accounts, there was a parade and festival in Bunol on the last Wednesday of August of 1945 when a fight broke out between some young men. Taking advantage of a nearby fruit and vegetable vendor’s stall, they threw tomatoes at each other. The police broke up the quarrel and those responsible ended up paying restitution to the tomato vendor.The following year the young people brought tomatoes with them to the parade and started a tomato fight again. Each year the fight continued until the early 1950’s when it was prohibited by order of the town council, but some townsfolk insisted on creating a fight and were thrown in jail. Protests ensued, including a “Tomato Funeral” and finally, in 1957 the town council allowed the fight to continue. In fact, since 1980 the city government has provided the tomatoes.

RULES:

There are five simple rules that must be followed. They seem to be common sense to ensure the safety of participants:

1. You must not bring bottles or other type of objects which could cause an accident.
2. You must not tear or throw t-shirts.
3. The tomatoes must be squashed before throwing them, to avoid hurting people.
4. You must be careful of any lorry (truck or van).
5. When you hear the second shot, you must stop throwing tomatoes.

Festival Celebrated Today:

The celebration continue to take place on the last Wednesday in August in the Plaza Mayor of Bunol. The tomatina starts at 11:00am with the sound of a rocket being fired and ends one hour later. According to the research, last year around 40,000 people were expected to participate in throwing over 100 tons of ripe tomatoes in the streets.