How a Spontaneous Food Fight Became La Tomatina, Spain’s Annual Tomato-Throwing Festival
Thousands of people gathered in a small Spanish town this week for the event, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary
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Thousands of people painted a small Spanish town red on Wednesday—by covering it in tomatoes.
It was the 80th anniversary of La Tomatina, an annual food fight in Buñol, in which crowds hurl more than 100 tons of overripe tomatoes at each other, leaving a pulpy red mess in their wake.
This week, an estimated 20,000 people packed into a central street in the small town next to tarp-protected buildings, according to the Associated Press’ Alicia León. Many attendees wore white T-shirts, which before long turned pale red along with every other article of clothing they wore, as well as their hair and skin. While revelers basked in tomato-soaked glee, loud music provided “the vibe of a rave,” per the AP.
Throughout the hour-long event, which bills itself as the largest annual food fight in the world, there was only one rule: Organizers ask attendees to squish tomatoes before they throw them to avoid injury. The sound of a cannon indicated the event’s end, at which point pulp-drenched participants made their way to communal showers to rinse off.
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La Tomatina started in Buñol, a small agricultural town of 9,000, “by accident,” per the festival’s website. In August 1945, as the story goes, there was a parade taking place in the town square that was disrupted by some young people.
“One of the boys—we will never know which—grabbed a tomato and the tomato fight started,” Enric Cuenca Yxeres, a Valencian history teacher, told Stefania Gozzer of BBC’s “Witness History” last year.
The tradition continued until the early 1950s, when it was banned by dictator Francisco Franco, per the AP’s Luena Rodriguez-Feo Vileira. That decision led to local protests, which convinced officials to reinstate the festival in 1957. Since then, it’s been an annual event—except for two years off during the Covid-19 pandemic—that has only grown in popularity.
Prior to 2013, the event could attract up to 40,000 people, but officials decided to cap attendance to make it more manageable for the small Valencian town. Today, the event is ticketed and capped at around 20,000 people.
Fun fact: La Tomatina is a record-breaking food fight
After attendance peaked at 40,000 in 2012, Guinness World Records recognized the event as the world’s largest annual food fight.
The event attracts tourists from all over the world. Non-locals pay 15 euros (about $17.50) for a ticket, per the AP, making it a big source of income for Buñol.
This year’s slogan was “Tomaterapia,” a Spanish portmanteau of “tomato” and “therapy.” The theme was a nod to the difficult year Buñol has had, being one of the towns affected by the flooding that hit eastern Spain last fall.
Some tomato-throwers use the event to make political statements. For others, the festival can be a moment of catharsis and joy.
“When it’s going on, it’s just a blur of tomatoes,” Adrian Columb, who lives in Ireland and attended the festival in 1999, tells the AP. “It was a blast.”
If you’re worried about waste, event organizers say you shouldn’t be. Per the AP, they say that the tomatoes thrown in the festival do not meet quality control standards for human consumption, and if they weren’t used for La Tomatina they would be thrown away.