The tourist office in Spain bills this as the world’s largest food fight but for the thousands that attend the La Tomatina in Buñol, Spain its just plain fun.
Where else would you get to throw, slide in, get smeared with and live amongst 250,000 pounds of overripe tomatoes. The most fun apparently is throwing the tomatoes, without fear of reprisal, at other Tomatina festival goers or anything else you might see. The festival has been around since the 1940’s but no one is sure why it even originated. The only disruption was nasty Franco who banned the festival thinking it had religious implications.
The raucus lasts for about an hour but before the throwing starts everyone is invited to squash tomatoes and slip and slide in them. The event is always held on the last Wednesday in August and can only start once an agile festival goer climbs up a greasy poll and pulls a hanging ham.
There is even a website dedicated to the festival with tips on how to throw a mean tomato. Watch the video on the art form.
Source: hispanicallyspeakingnews – World’s Largest Food Fight, La Tomatina, Launches in Buñol
