The world’s largest food fight? Count me in! La Tomatina is an annual event held in Buñol, a town in Spain. I first heard of this festival from a Spanish expat I had a conversation with when I was visiting my grandparents in Washington D.C.
Buñol’s tiny population welcomes around , which is held on the last wednesday in August. Participants are provided with 150,000 tomatoes- that 90,000 pounds of tomatoes flying everywhere. That’s a heck of a lot of tomatoes if you know what I’m saying. These tomatoes are located in the center of the town at Plaza de Pueblo.
At 11:00 a.m. a ham is placed on a pole which I guess is the Spanish version on the checkered flag they wave at Nascar races. After that, it’s every man for himself. The tomatoes are dumped out of trucks onto the streets and people grab them and start throwing them everywhere.
This event is truely a one-of-a-kind event. Its commendable that local business owners allow people to throw thousands of tomatoes all over the city. The town’s firefighters even spray down the place after the festival. This is something that could never happen in America and I would gladly hop on a plane to Spain to be able to witness this event. This literally looks like the most fun festival ever- props to you Spain! Can’t wait to have a chance to be a part of this unique and fun event.
