{"id":404786,"date":"2025-09-07T08:29:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T08:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/404786\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T08:29:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T08:29:18","slug":"thousands-gather-for-spains-tomatina-food-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/404786\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands gather for Spain’s \u2018Tomatina\u2019 food fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

BU\u00d1OL, Spain (AP) \u2014 Thousands of people from around the world seeking a uniquely messy thrill spent one wild hour flinging bushels of overripe tomatoes at each other during Spain\u2019s \u201cTomatina\u201d celebration Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The mother of all food fights painted a packed central street in the eastern town of Bu\u00f1ol deep red as revelers squished, smashed and hurled 120 tons of the overripe fruit. Tarps covered building fronts as an estimated 20,000 people let loose amid screams and laughter.<\/p>\n

Every article of clothing and pretty much every inch of bare skin and hair ended up covered in a pulpy mush, with many wearing white shirts that quickly were stained pink. Thumping music gave the event the vibe of a rave. Organizers wearing green shirts slowly opened a path for trucks loaded with the tomatoes to bring in the ammunition.<\/p>\n

\"AA couple kissed over a puddle of tomatoes during the annual “Tomatina” tomato fight fiesta, in the village of Bunol near Valencia.Alberto Saiz\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

Bu\u00f1ol, with a population of around 10,000, was one of the towns affected by devastating floods in eastern Spain beginning Oct. 29, 2024. That is why this year\u2019s slogan is \u201cTomaterapia,\u201d or \u201cTomato Therapy\u201d in English.<\/p>\n

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the tomato tossing that party lore says began in 1945 for local children. Since then \u201cTomatina\u201d has grown to an eye-catching event that now draws a significant international crowd and only has been skipped twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Amid the collective abandon, a left-wing political party backed an initiative by local residents to fly Palestinian flags and a banner against Israel\u2019s military campaign in Gaza during this year\u2019s \u201cTomatina.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RevelersRevelers threw tomatoes at each other during the annual “Tomatina” tomato fight fiesta.Alberto Saiz\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

The only guideline during the free-for-all is to squash each tomato before throwing to reduce its impact. Even so, some participants opt to wear protective goggles and earplugs.<\/p>\n

For those worried about the waste, organizers say the tomatoes are grown specifically for the \u201cTomatina\u201d and not edible anyway. Organizers say that the tomatoes used in the party don\u2019t meet the quality control standards for human consumption. They say if there were not used in the \u201cTomatina\u201d they would be thrown away. This year\u2019s supply hails from a town over five hours away.<\/p>\n

\"RevelersRevelers held a Palestinian flag as they threw tomatoes at each other during the annual “Tomatina” tomato fight fiesta, in the village of Bunol.Alberto Saiz\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

A cannon shot told participants the battle is over. As their adrenaline drained, revelers used communal showers to clean up while workers hosed the crimson slurry off the streets.<\/p>\n

Joseph Wilson contributed to this report from Barcelona, Spain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BU\u00d1OL, Spain (AP) \u2014 Thousands of people from around the world seeking a uniquely messy thrill spent one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,4179,388,14903,104,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-404786","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-general-news","11":"tag-lifestyle","12":"tag-oddities","13":"tag-spain","14":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115162078668687907","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}