La Tomatina: All you need to know about festival of pelting tomatoes

Thousands of people throng Bunol town of Spain every year and pelt tomatoes on each other on last Wednesday of August to mark the iconic La Tomatina festival. The festival is considered largest food fight in the world.

After Bollywood movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara where Hrithik and Katrina fell in love amid the tomato-squelching, many people in India wanted to start the festival just for fun.

A gathering was planned in Bangalore and Mysore in 2011 which was cancelled by the Karnataka government terming it wastage of tomatoes.

Below are some facts need to know about the La Tomatina

• La Tomatina is believed to have started after a fight near a market in 1945

• It became an official festival in 1957.

• The "Tomatina" is held on the last Wednesday in August in the town of Buñol in Spain.

• The festival has become a tourist attraction. Thousands of tourists from around the world throng to Bunol to participate in this festival.

• Spain's tourism secretary named the festival as a "Festivity of International Tourist Interest" in 2002.

• La Tomatina has led to other similar celebrations around the world.

• Colombian town of Sutamarchán has held a tomato fight since 2004 in June.

• In the United States, Twin Lakes, Colorado, started the "Colorado-Texas Tomato War" in 1982, which pits residents from Texas and Colorado against each other in a food fight each September.

• There are also annual La Tomatina-inspired events each year in Costa Rica and Chile.

• In 2013, city officials introduced an entry fee and limited the number of participants, citing concerns over safety.