西班牙掀西紅柿大戰 砸掉120噸西紅柿

TENS of thousands of revellers hurled 120 tonnes of squashed tomatoes at each other, drenching the streets in red in a gigantic Spanish food fight known as the Tomatina.

A sea of more than 40,000 alcohol-soaked men and women packed into the Plaza Mayor square of Bunol, eastern Spain, many with their shirts off and wearing swimming goggles to keep out the stinging juice.

Spectators peered over the balconies of surrounding buildings, some also chucking tomatoes on chanting, dancing food-fighters below, who covered the square like a carpet.

Five trucks loaded with the tomatoes struggled to find space in the human tomato soup to enter the square.

But as they unloaded the edible ammunition, the square and surrounding streets were suddenly awash in a sea of tomato sauce, covering the crowds of festival goers.

"I can't throw fast enough. This is crazy. It's my third year," said one battler, Angel, as he pelted others with tomatoes, which must be squashed before being chucked so as to minimise the pain.

Many wore yellow T-shirts that read "Fanatic of the Tomatina".

"Long live the Tomatina!" cried one Japanese tourist wrapped in a scarf decorated with a huge tomato picture, alongside a friend who protected himself with a tomato-shaped helmet.

The Tomatina is held each year in Bunol, in the heart of a fertile region some 40 kilometres north of the coastal city of Valencia, Spain's third-largest city, on the last Wednesday in August.

The town says it expects the fight to bring in 300,000 euros ($362,000) to the local economy, a welcome financial boost as the country suffers from a recession and a jobless rate of nearly 25 percent.

"We don't have much space but there is no other way," said Rafael Perez, spokesman for the town of 10,000 inhabitants. "It's been here since 1945."

Though the origins of the event are unclear, it is thought to have its roots in a food fight between childhood friends in the mid-1940s in the city.

It has grown in size as international press coverage brought more and more people to the festival, with tourists flocking in this year from Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India.在西班牙舉行的西紅柿食物大戰（Tomatina）中，成千上萬的狂歡者把被壓爛的西紅柿砸向對方，120噸西紅柿將街道變成了紅色的海洋。

西班牙東部的布諾市長廣場上人山人海，4萬多名喝得醉醺醺的男人和女人聚集在那裏，許多人脫掉了襯衫，只戴着泳鏡來遮擋刺目的西紅柿汁液。

有些人在四周樓房的陽臺上觀看這場大賽，有些人還向樓下邊唱邊跳的食物大戰者扔西紅柿。這些食物大戰者就像紅地毯一般覆蓋了整個廣場。

五輛裝載着西紅柿的卡車艱難地在“西紅柿人湯”中找尋進入廣場的路。

但當卡車人員把這些可食用的炸彈從車上卸下時，廣場和周圍的街道剎那間被西紅柿醬淹沒了，把參加盛會的人羣“炸”開了花。

其中一位食物大戰者安傑爾說：“我還是扔的不夠快。這太瘋狂了。這是我第三年參加西紅柿大戰。”他一邊說一邊向其他人扔西紅柿。這些西紅柿必須被壓爛再扔，才能把疼痛感降到最低。

許多人穿着上面寫有“西紅柿大戰狂人”的黃色T恤。

“西紅柿大戰萬歲！”一位裹着有特大西紅柿圖案的圍巾的日本遊客喊道。他身邊的朋友用一個西紅柿形狀的頭盔保護自己。

西紅柿大戰每年都於八月的最後一個星期三在布諾舉行。布諾是一個物產豐饒的地區的中心，該地區在西班牙第三大城市、沿海的巴倫西亞以北40公里處。

該鎮表示，它期望西紅柿大戰能給當地經濟帶來30萬歐元（36.2萬美元）的收入，對於正處於經濟衰退而且失業率高達近25%的西班牙而言，這種經濟刺激很受歡迎。

“我們的地方不大，但也沒有其他能促進經濟的方法了。”該鎮1萬名居民的發言人拉斐爾•佩雷茨說道。“自從1945年以來就一直延續着西紅柿大戰的傳統。”

儘管西紅柿大戰的起源不清楚，但據認爲它根源於20世紀40年代中期該城鎮童年夥伴的一場食物大戰。

隨着國際報道的增多，西紅柿大戰的規模逐漸變大，也吸引越來越多人來參加這一盛會。每年都有許多來自日本、韓國、澳大利亞、新西蘭和印度的遊客聚集到這裏。