Unusual Sports: La Tomatina
By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
Thousands have taken part in this year’s La Tomatina food fight festival, in which people hurl tonnes of tomatoes at each other and also bathe in a sea of tomatoes.
This annual event, which takes place in the streets of Buñol, a Spanish town near Valencia in Eastern Spain, this year celebrates its 80th anniversary.
Around 120 tonnes of tomatoes, which are grown especially for the event, have been trucked into the town.
The event, which was inspired by a food fight between local teenagers in 1945, is held every year on the last Wednesday of August.
Last year, the event attracted 22,000 people.
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
