This year marks the 80th anniversary of La Tomatina, the world-famous food fight hosted every year by the small town of Buñol in Valencia, Spain.
The 2025 festival took place on Wednesday and was attended by around 20,000 people. For exactly one hour, the attendees gleefully hurled over 100 tons of juicy tomatoes at each other, with the only rule that they had to squish the fruit before throwing it to avoid injury.
The buildings in the center of Buñol were covered with tarps for protection, though many participants chose to wear white to fully embrace the mess. Loud music contributed to the euphoric atmosphere.
Recognized by Guinness World Records as the “world’s largest food fight,” La Tomatina’s origins can be traced to a parade in August 1945 that was disrupted by some children, one of whom launched a tomato. In subsequent years, it became an annual tradition for the town to host a tomato fight. It was briefly banned by dictator Francisco Franco in the 1950s due to the lack of religious significance, until the townspeople's vehement protests were successful in getting it reinstated.
Tomato therapy:
- Before 2013, the event could attract around 40,000 people, until town officials decided to make it more manageable, requiring tickets and imposing an attendance cap of 20,000. The town usually has a modest population of 9,000.
- Even with the attendance cap, Buñol makes a hefty profit from the event, with each out-of-town attendee paying 15 euros ($17.50) to participate.
- Like much of eastern Spain, Buñol was affected by severe flooding earlier this year. The theme for this week’s event was Tomaterapia, which combines the Spanish words for “tomato” and “therapy,” a reference to the healing power of the festival in a difficult year.
