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Photos from La Tomatina, the World’s Biggest Food Fight

On the last Wednesday of August each year, a small Spanish town erupts into a food fight featuring tomato-throwing

Natasha Geiling

August 27, 2014

Festival-goers at La Tomatina, a festival that bills itself as "the world's biggest food fight."

Residents clean tomato residue from the streets and buildings of Bunol, Spain. Jose Miguel Fernandez de Velasco/Demotix/Corbis

A festival-goer takes a break during the annual La Tomatina food fight in Bunol, Spain. Jose Miguel Fernandez de Velasco/Demotix/Corbis

Festival-goers hurl tomatoes at the crowd from a float. Jose Miguel Fernandez de Velasco/Demotix/Corbis

Revelers are splattered with tomatoes during the yearly La Tomatina festival in Bunol, Spain. Jose Miguel Fernandez de Velasco/Demotix/Corbis

Thousands of festival-goers surround a float at La Tomatina, dubbed "the world's largest food fight." Salva Garrigues/Demotix/Corbis

Two revelers slide through crushed tomatoes during the La Tomatina festival. Jose Miguel Fernandez de Velasco/Demotix/Corbis

A man "swims" against a current of crushed tomatoes during the La Tomatina festival in Bunol, Spain. Jose Miguel Fernandez de Velasco/Demotix/Corbis

A man hurls tomatoes at the crowd from a float during La Tomatina festival. Salva Garrigues/Demotix/Corbis

Thousands of revelers throw tomatoes at each other during the Tomatina festival. Salva Garrigues/Demotix/Corbis

If you happen to find yourself in the small Valencian town of Buñol on the last Wednesday in August, you'd better wear your galoshes and goggles: that's the day that the entire town—along with some 22,000 tourists—erupts into the world's biggest food fight, throwing tomatoes at one another in an hour-long frenzy of blood-red pulp and seeds. The festival, known as La Tomatina, has been a major draw for the Spanish town since it began in 1945. The roots of the event go back to a couple of rowdy children who barged into a parade after being barred from entering; in doing so, they accidentally knocked one of the festival's participants to the ground. Furious, the man leapt to his feet and grabbed tomatoes from a nearby produce stand, flinging them at the rambunctious children. The event quickly expanded, bringing as many as 40,000 tourists into the tiny town in 2012 (effectively quadrupling its normal population of 9,000). The influx of tourists helped to make the festival a major international attraction, but over-crowding also led to safety concerns. In 2013, to curb crowds, the city began charging outsiders an admission fee of €10 ($13). This year, ticket sales brought €170,000 (around $224,000) in revenue to the town.

Buñol is famous for its tomato production, but the festival demands a tomato-repository of almost epic proportions—this year, participants threw 250,000 pounds of tomatoes, grown especially for the festival, at one another.