Any tomato sauce left? - 27.08.2010

A SQUELCHING time was had by all on Wednesday at the annual La Tomatina festival in Buñol, a town in the Valencia region.

If you took part in the incredible event, you will definitely have been squashed or squelched because tens of metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes - some 150,000 weighing around  90,000lbs - were hurled in the streets in one hour of madness..
The Tomatina takes place on the last Wednesday of August each year, and supporters travel from all over the world to take part in what must be regarded as the most unusual fiesta of all.
It forms part of a week-long festival featuring music, parades, dancing, and fireworks and on the eve of the great tomato bash, participants of the festival compete in a paella-cooking contest.
This fantasic festival, designed to give everyone the pip, started in a casual way in 1945 but wasn’t recognised officially until 1952.
Between 20,000 and 50,000 tourists from all over the globe either return to continue “hostilities” each year, or are first-timers, bidding to find out more about the great tomato fight.
Buñol’s population is just over 9,000, which means there is limited accommodation for tourists.
The town can squash so many in, but most participants stay in Valencia and travel by bus or train to Buñol, about 38km outside the city.
In preparation for the almighty mess to come, shopkeepers use huge plastic covers on their shop fronts to protect them.
No one really knows how the event originated, but possible theories include a local food fight among friends which got out of hand, a volley of tomatoes from bystanders at a carnival parade, a practical joke on a bad musician, and even the aftermath of an accidental lorry spillage.
One of the most popular beliefs is that disgruntled townspeople attacked city councillors with tomatoes during a town celebration.
However the tradition began, it was enjoyed so much that townsfolk repeated it the following next year, and the year after that, and so on.
The holiday was banned during the Spanish State period under Francisco Franco for having no religious significance, but it quickly returned in the 1970s after his demise.