On the last Wednesday in August, a small village in Spain explodes in tomatoes. It’s part of a festival called La Tomatina, which began in 1944 when young people disrupted a town parade by throwing overripe vegetables. Over the years, it’s grown, drawing up to 20,000 participants!
Today La Tomatina is an all-day affair. It begins with a greased pole climbing contest, where contestants try to reach the ham at the top. Then an hour-long food fight erupts after truckloads of tomatoes are dumped on the streets. “The ground was really slippery from the juices,” says Ami Zou, who attended the festival in 2024. “It was a lot of tomatoes!”