Food fights seem to be one of those activities that become greatly underrated as one becomes older and wiser. Perhaps it’s that little thing called maturity, or maybe a realisation that food is actually something that should be eaten, not thrown around. As kids though, it doesn’t get any better, particularly when you hate the food your parents are trying to stuff down your throat… Brussels sprouts anyone?
So while you may not be able to get away with a food fight just anywhere, there is a festival that celebrates the throwing of over-ripened tomatoes between some 30,000 participants. Sounds messy right? Well it is… but downright fun too.
La Tomatina is a festival held on a Wednesday towards the end of August in the town of Buñol in the Valencia region in Spain (these Spaniards sure love crazy festivals).
The weeklong festival includes parades, dancing, music and a paella cooking contest but nothing exceeds the hype of the tomato fight. At around 11am, the first event of the Tomatina begins and is signalled by a ham being sat upon a tall, greased pole. The fight erupts once someone is able to climb to the top and bring it down. And it’s a mad rush to be the one to bring it down.
Truckloads of tomatoes travel into the centre of town the signal for the beginning of the fight is firing of the cannon. Then the messy fun begins and it becomes a friendly battle where every man must fend for himself.
The battle of squishy tomato throwing lasts for an hour or two and once the cannon goes off once more; it’s all tomatoes down and time to find somewhere to wash all of the skin, flesh and seeds off.
