La Tomatina is a food-fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August in the Valencian town of Buñol , in the east of Spain . Up to 50,000 people each year chuck an estimated 12 metric tonnes of ripe tomatoes at one another , with some people travelling across countries for the unusual extravaganza .

The overripe tomatoes are shipped in from the Extremadura region in southwestern Spain – the country ’ s leading grower of the fruit . Overall , Spain is the world ’ s ninth largest producer of tomatoes , growing 5.2 million tonnes a year . This is dwarfed by top producer China , producing 55.5 million tonnes .

10 August 2022