Valencia Spain's La Tomatina Festival- Not Your Average Food Fight

Photo bySpain Guides

Forty thousand people gather in Bunol to throw tomatoes at each other. Every August, residents and visitors congregate in this town of 9,000 to throw over 115,000 kilograms of tomatoes at each other.

The event is known as the La Tomatina Festival. It is a famous sight, and tourists from across Europe flock to the town to participate.

Buñol is a town in the province of Valencia, Spain. It is 40 kilometers west of Valencia's provincial and autonomous community capital.

Photo byThomas Cook Travel

The usually quiet town of Bunol comes alive every August and welcomes tourists and visitors when the La Tomatina Festival takes place. The festival began in 1945 by accident during a parade being held in People's Square.

On the event day, trucks deliver a bounty of tomatoes to the Plaza del Pueblo in the town center. The tomatoes are hauled from Extremadura.

The tomato fight only begins once someone climbs a two-story greased pole to reach a ham placed on its top end.

Photo bytourradar

A considerable amount of time passes as participants fail to reach the ham. Water cannons signal the beginning of the fight, which brings chaos to the Plaza.

Once the tomato fight begins, it is every man for themselves.

The fight lasts one hour. Once the one-hour mark is reached, no more tomatoes can be thrown, and the clean-up begins.

Photo byallthatsinteresting

Fire trucks arrive to spray down the streets. A Roman aqueduct provides waterater is provided by a Roman aqueduct. Cleaning the tomato-stained town takes priority over cleaning the participants. Some visitors find water to wash up in the Bunol River.

Residents offer to hose down tomato-covered passersby. Due to the acidity of the tomatoes, the city is left sparkling clean. The 115,000 kilos of tomatoes used in the fight are considered too sour for the dining table.

Photo byyoudonthavetoberichtotravel

There is uncertainty about how the event started. The first festival may have involved a food fight between friends. Other possibilities include:

• Bystanders tossing tomatoes into a passing carnival parade
• A practical joke on a bad musician
• The aftermath of spillage from an overturned truck loaded with tomatoes

In any case, the annual tomato fight keeps Bunol on the map.

Photo bytravelcenteruk

Whatever started the first fight in the mid-40s, the townspeople enjoyed it so much that it was repeated year after year.

The tomato throwing continued for a few years until it was banned in the early 1950s. The festival was again permitted after enough locals and others protested in favor of La Tomatina in 1957. The La Tomatina Festival has since gained exponential popularity.

During the Spanish State period, Francisco Franco, the Spanish general who ruled as a dictator for 36 years from 1939 until he died in 1975, banned the festival because it lacked religious significance, but it was restarted in the 1970s.

The festival honors Bunol's patron saints, Luis Bertran and the Mare de Deu dels Desemparats (Mother of God of the Defenseless), a title of the Virgin Mary.

Photo bycentives

Everyone arrives at La Tomatina in clothing they do not mind throwing away. Some people will wear white t-shirts that show off the brilliant red of the tomatoes, while others will sacrifice nothing other than their oldest clothes. Tickets for the event are set at a maximum of twenty-two thousand.

A bathing suit underneath is a great choice, as everyone is soaked from all the juicy tomatoes and the water hoses. Closed sports shoes rather than sandals or flip-flops are the best shoe choice.

Be prepared to throw whatever you are wearing away after the event. Swimming goggles are often worn but are not a necessity. However, they do help keep the tomato acid out of your eyes.

Photo byspainguides

Anything else should be left in a safe place outside the festival area so that the tomatoes or water do not ruin it.

The festival will begin at approximately eleven in the morning when one hundred twenty tons of tomatoes will be dumped on the ground in various positions.

The next hour is spent grabbing tomatoes, crushing them slightly, and tossing them at everyone else. When the hour is up, a fireworks shot is heard, and all tomato-throwing must cease.

Photo bytourradar

La Tomatina is an intense experience that will provide everyone with a hilarious way to spend part of their day in Bunol. While everyone might think the adults are the only ones who can have all the fun, think again, as the kids can also enjoy the tomatoes.

Whilst all may not appreciate what Buñol offers outside of La Tomatina, no one can resist the exuberant fun and frivolity of this town's annual fiesta and the opportunity to throw tomatoes at people for an hour.

It might be a crazy tradition, but it's a lot of fun to experience with a large group of people.

***

Douglas Pilarski is an award-winning writer & journalist based on the West Coast. He writes about luxury goods, exotic cars, horology, tech, food, lifestyle, equestrian & rodeo, and millionaire travel.

Comments encouraged.

Copyright © 2024 Sawyer TMS. All rights reserved.

N.B. This article is for information purposes only unless otherwise noted.