{"id":76237,"date":"2026-08-26T18:48:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T18:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/76237\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T18:48:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T18:48:19","slug":"thousands-descend-on-bunol-spain-for-annual-la-tomatina-food-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/76237\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands descend on Bu\u00f1ol, Spain for annual La Tomatina food fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

BU\u00d1OL, Spain \u2014 Thousands of revelers \u2014 including many lured by a Bollywood film \u2014 descended on a small Spanish town on Wednesday for the\u00a0annual La Tomatina food fight<\/a>, where they painted Bu\u00f1ol red with tons of overripe tomatoes.<\/p>\n

Loaded trucks plodded through the crowd with people in their cargo beds throwing tomatoes at the revelers \u2014 who, in turn, hurled them at one another. <\/p>\n

Their white shirts soon turned pink and red while pop songs blasted from speakers. <\/p>\n

Revelers play in tomato pulp during the annual La Tomatina food fight festival on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026, in Bu\u00f1ol, Spain. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Revelers throw tomatoes during the La Tomatina food fight festival on Wednesday. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Revelers\u2019 white shirts soon turned pink and red while pop songs blasted from speakers. REUTERS<\/p>\n

At one point, police appeared to use pepper spray to disperse an area of the crowd, but a festive vibe quickly resumed.<\/p>\n

The messy melee took place for over an hour in the town, where buildings were covered with tarps ahead of the festivities. <\/p>\n

Held on the last Wednesday of August, the festival traces its origins to a\u00a0food fight in 1945.<\/p>\n

La Tomatina became an annual tradition before Spanish dictator Gen.\u00a0Francisco Franco\u00a0banned it in the 1950s. <\/p>\n

Televised media attention in the 1980s helped turn the festival into a national event, and eventually, an international attraction.<\/p>\n

More than 20,000 people were expected to take part this year, with the Spanish news agency EFE reporting this week that roughly 40% of participants over the past three years have been tourists from outside\u00a0Spain.<\/p>\n

Revelers bathe in tomatoes\u00a0during Wednesday\u2019s food fight. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Televised media attention in the 1980s helped turn the festival into a national event, and eventually, an international attraction. REUTERS<\/p>\n

There has been a notable jump in visitors from India in recent years, following the 2011\u00a0Bollywood\u00a0movie \u201cZindagi Na Milegi Dobara\u201d (\u201cYou Only Live Once\u201d), in which three friends take a road trip through Spain during an extended bachelor party. <\/p>\n

The film recreated La Tomatina, introducing the festival to many Indians.<\/p>\n

The movie is what first drew Romail Khokhar, a 27-year-old from Mumbai, to Bu\u00f1ol. He was there on Wednesday morning, eager to participate in the food fight for his third time.<\/p>\n

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Mazhar and Sanya Khan, both 40, were likewise inspired by the film.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fantastic, absolutely well-managed,\u201d said Mazhar Khan. \u201cWe are from India, and this is our first time being in La Tomatina. It has been a dream for over a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie\u2019s appeal isn\u2019t limited to Indians. It also drew Joanna Wytrzyszczewska from Poland.<\/p>\n

More than 20,000 people were expected to take part this year, with the Spanish news agency EFE reporting this week that roughly 40% of participants over the past three years have been tourists from outside\u00a0Spain. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Revelers throw tomatoes at a person during the food fight festival on Wednesday. REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cWay more crazy than we expected,\u201d said Wytrzyszczewska, 32. \u201cWe came because we were inspired by a movie. It was better than the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar tomato-flinging events have taken place in Florida, London,\u00a0Amsterdam,\u00a0the Colombian town of Sutamarch\u00e1n and Hyderabad, India.<\/p>\n

Non-local attendees pay 15 euros ($17.50) for a ticket. <\/p>\n

The first and only rule: Squash your tomatoes before hurling them to avoid injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWay more crazy than we expected,\u201d said Joanna Wytrzyszczewska, 32. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Non-local attendees pay 15 euros ($17.50) for a festival ticket. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Still, many participants don swimming goggles and earplugs for protection.<\/p>\n

Once the hour was up, the sound of a cannon blast marked the end of festivities and crowds washed off at communal showers nearby. <\/p>\n

The town\u2019s streets were later hosed down.<\/p>\n

Though stains on clothes can be permanent, the tomatoes\u2019 citric acid acts as a cleaning agent, often leaving Bu\u00f1ol\u2019s streets cleaner than before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BU\u00d1OL, Spain \u2014 Thousands of revelers \u2014 including many lured by a Bollywood film \u2014 descended on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28997,66,816,3627,28998,653,17,988,9973,394],"class_list":["post-76237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-bollywood","tag-europe","tag-festivals","tag-film","tag-food-festivals","tag-india","tag-spain","tag-tourism","tag-tourists","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}