Security tightened at Spain’s tomato throwing festival

A men lies in a puddle of squashed tomatoes during the annual “Tomatina”, tomato fight fiesta, in the village of Bunol, 50 kilometers outside Valencia, Spain. (AP Photo)

The iconic fiesta – which celebrates its 72nd anniversary and is billed at “the world’s biggest food fight” – has become a major draw for foreigners, in particular from Britain, Japan and the United States. The bang of fireworks set off the bedlam at 11 am. Revellers, many wearing just bathing suits and goggles, bent down to pick up tomatoes from the ground to throw while others lay in the pulp.

Some 160 tonnes of ripe tomatoes were offloaded from trucks into a crowd of 22,000 people, about two-thirds of them foreigners. The town of around 10,000 people has since 2013 charged non-residents a participation fee to control the growing crowds who flock to the event.

The Tomatina started in 1945 when locals brawling in the street at a folk festival grabbed tomatoes from a greengrocer’s stall and let loose. Then in 2002, Spain’s tourism secretary named the Tomatina a “festivity of international tourist interest” because of its popularity. The Tomatina has inspired similar celebrations in Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile and the United States.