The
sunny Mediterranean city of Valencia in
Spain is world-renowned for its tasty and succulent oranges. And just
thirty miles away is Buñol, another town just as famous for its
produce. But its notoriety comes from the locals' habit of wearing the
produce as well as tasting it: every year, Buñol hosts La Tomatina,
the world's largest vegetable fight. Situated only 30 kilometers inland
from the Mediterranean Sea, and well-connected by motorway and rail to
Madrid and Valencia, this charming town erupts into a fiery blaze of tomato-hurling
on the last Wednesday of every August. The "batalla" takes place
during a week-long celebration filled with on-going festivities and with
even greater anticipation for the monstrous tomato battle that serves
as the culmination of the week's events.
Without question the
biggest tomato fight in the world, La Tomatina started with a good laugh.
During the forties, in Buñol's main town square, a number of friends
started a tomato fight for unknown reasons. It's unclear whether the initial
volley was aimed at city officials or simply pedestrians unlucky enough
to be in the line of fire. Soon enough, however, with their rowdy hooliganism
drawing passers-by into the fray, everyone was having a great time. They
had so much fun, in fact, that from that day forward, the fiesta has been
celebrated annually and has grown ever bigger each year.
In an effort to draw
more tourism (and therefore more targets) into the small 
town
of Buñol, La Tomatina has blossomed into a full-blown fiesta that
coincides with the festival for the town's patron saint. For a week leading
up to the epic battle, the 20,000-strong town of Buñol, is filled
with parades, fireworks, food and street parties. The night before La
Tomatina, the narrow streets beneath the town's imposing Medieval bell
tower are filled with tomatoes, in a much more palatable form than they
will be the next day! Cauldrons of delectable paella cooking, simmered
traditionally over wood-burning fires line the Concurso des Paellas, near
the Plaza del Pueblo, site of the imminent skirmishes. Wine and food flow
around the small town until the wee hours, in a fabulous Dickens-like
foreshadowing. After all, who can do battle thirsty and on an empty stomach?
Then, early Wednesday
morning, shopkeepers and business owners along the Plaza set about covering
windows and doors in preparation for the messy onslaught. Large trucks
rumble up the cobblestone streets to arrive in the crowd-filled square
and, from the back of the huge trucks, official instigators begin ceremoniously
pelting the awaiting throng with their precious cargo: sloppy, squishy
tomatoes trucked in from the four corners of Spain.
- There is no political or religious significance to La Tomatina, it's just good, messy fun.
- Paricipants who show up from around the world: 20,000
- Number of tomatoes used: 150,000 ...that's over 90,000 pounds of tomatoes!
- Dan Quayle's plural of tomato: tomatoees
- Buckets of water are thrown at the crowds first by the fight instigators in the tomato trucks, as a foreshadowing of the veggie barrage to come.
- After the battle, you can hose off the splatter on the riverbank, where the town slaps together makeshift public showers.
Every
year, the fight is nationally televised by the most
prestigious agencies in Spain. Dressed in clothing doomed for the
rubbish bin, more than 20,000 revelers
retaliate against the truckers, each other and anything else that strays
within range of their hand-crushed veggie blobs. Soon the streets are
awash in seeds, pulp and tomato guts - possibly one of the best starts
to a great marinara sauce to be found west of Mont Blanc. The insanity
ensues until more than 90,000 pounds of tomatoes have been hurled at anything
with a pulse that ducks, runs, stops, turns about, or fights back. For
visiting tourists, be aware that anyone with a camera or a baseball cap
will be considered a prime target. Like all good battles, the assault
is over in less than half an hour. Everyone then reconciles with their
former targets and fellow warriors and heads down to the river to remove
the saucy mess from hair and body. Source. Festivals.com
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