The world’s largest food fight

It’s the last Wednesday of August in the quiet, tranquil town of Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain.

At least, it usually is quiet and tranquil. Now, some 20,000 people crowd the narrow, cobblestone streets that are home to 9,000 residents. In the city’s main square, Plaza del Mayor, shopkeepers conceal windows and doors behind huge plastic covers. Tremendous trucks with heavy loads are lumbering into the center of the town, and over the entire scene, there is the scent of very ripe… tomatoes?

What’s going on?

It’s the legendary annual festival called La Tomatina, the world’s biggest food fight!

Remember what we said on the first page! For us, throwing food is bizayon ochlin– disrespecting Hashem’s great of food!

The First Tomato 

The very first tomato was thrown in August of 1945 during a parade through the streets of Buñol. Some pushy youngsters collided with one of the men in the parade, knocking off his mask and ruining his costume. In a rage, the embarrassed man grabbed some handy vegetables from a nearby street stall and began tossing them into the crowd.  Angry crowd members joined the fray until the peaceful parade became a frenzy of flying veggies! Eventually, the police had to come to control the crowd, but everyone was having so much fun that they decided to repeat the food fight, making it a yearly tradition.

Although it’s been banned and unbanned over the years, today, La Tomatina has become a global sensation. Most of the tomateros (tomato-throwers!) come from as far away as Australia, Japan, Great Britain, and the US. There’s a limit of 20,000 participants, aged 18 and up, so there’s lots of juicy competition for a coveted ticket to the event.

Since La Tomatina is not exactly our scene, let’s hear all about it from Tommy, our Tomatina tourist!

Tomato Tossing Timeline

10:00 a.m.:

Hello, folks! I’m Tommy, and I’ve traveled all the way from London, England, to participate in La Tomatina. Before heading out to the main square, I need to change into my La Tomatina wardrobe: my oldest clothes (I wouldn’t want good clothes getting ruined!), ancient sneakers (any open shoes means your feet will be pretty sore after 20,000 people have stepped on your toes…), and a pair of goggles, because tomato juice and my eyes don’t agree with each other.

10:58 a.m.:

The main square of the town is jam-packed with people, and six trucks just roared up, parking at the edge of the surging crowd. They’re filled with red, overripe tomatoes especially grown for this event — tomatoes high on juice, but low on flavor. There’s 150,000 kg (over 330,000 pounds) just waiting to be tossed. Everyone waits breathlessly for the booming sound of the water cannon. As soon as it goes off, the tomatoes will begin to fly!

11:00 a.m.:

BOOOOM! Did you hear that water cannon? The ground shakes and the crowd erupts.

11:20 a.m.:

Townspeople on the trucks are throwing tomatoes into the mob, and the air is filled with flying red objects. Tomatoes are tumbling, rolling, bouncing, splatting open — on the cobblestones, in hair, on shirts, and squishing noisily underfoot. Whoa! One tomato just got me in the face! Good thing I’m wearing goggles…