BUSOL: Half-naked revellers pelted each other with tomatoes and bathed in red goo on Wednesday in Spain’s Tomatina, a fiesta that draws thousands each year for “the world’s biggest food fight”.

Locals and visitors from as far away as Australia, Japan and the United States crammed into the eastern town of Bunol as mushy tomatoes flew in every direction in a world-famous orgy of mush.

“It was mental. Crazy. People jumping around, throwing tomatoes and slipping over,” said Alex Harris, 20, from Dorset in England, his T-shirt torn and chest drenched in juice.

“It was awesome. Hectic, chaotic, not for the claustrophobic,” said Ben Brown, a London-based Australian with a head plastered with red pulp. “It’s the most fun you’ll have in an hour in your life.” One of Spain’s quirkiest and best-known tourist draws, the Tomatina was stained this year by a row over its privatisation.

Mindful of safety and money, the indebted local authorities last year began charging revellers an entry fee and hired a private company, Spaintastic, to sell tickets.

The town hall said it had to improve safety at the wild festival, which before the privatisation drew 40,000 revellers to the town, quadrupling its population. Places are now limited to 22,000.

“The essence of the Tomatina had been lost. There was no space and it was quite dangerous,” Bunol’s deputy mayor Rafael Perez said.

“Now it is much more enjoyable,” he added. The entry fee for the sell-out event “has enabled us to finance the fiesta and make it safer”.

Revellers glugged pints of beer and sangria until trucks loaded with 125,000 tomatoes rolled through Bunol’s narrow streets and teams on board heaped the squishy load onto the heads of the crowd.

Corruption’ slur: The iconic food fight has long been a draw for foreigners.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2014