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LA TOMATINA (TOMATO FIGHT)

La Tomatina is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Bunol in the Valencia region of Spain. Tens of thousands of participants come from all over the world to fight in a brutal battle where more than one hundred metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets in exactly one hour.

The week-long festival features music, parades, dancing and fireworks. On the night before the tomato fight, participants of the festival compete in a paella cooking contest. It is tradition for the women to wear all white and the men to wear no shirts. This festival started in a casual way in 1954, but wasn't officially recognized until 1952.

Approximately 20,000 - 50,000 tourists come to find out more about the tomato fight, multiply by several times in Bunol's normal population of slightly over 9,000. There is limited accommodation for people who come to La Tomatina, and this many participants stay in Valencia and travel by bus or train to Bunol, about 38 km outside the city. In preparation for the dirty mess that will ensue, shopkeepers use huge plastic covers on their storefronts in order to protect them. They also use about 150,000 tomatoes, just about 90,000 pounds.