La Tomatina

La Tomatina
Originally uploaded by BigTomato.

Granted, we were hunter-gatherers before they came along. 500 years later, we still have our problems. But they seem to have regressed a bit. Witness La Tomatina! This surely isn't even tasty. It's funny (as in distastefully weird). A crowd of grown-up half-naked men pelting each other with soft fruits? Maybe it's some form of tomacco, or maybe they're absolutely, screaming-chimp-in-heat crazy. But hey, it's the First World. Maybe we should imitate them. It's worked before... NOT!

Rosario3 covers the current Tomatina explaining that 40,000 people in the Spanish town of Buñol, province of Valencia, employ more than 110 tons of tomato to enjoy themselves like this since 61 years ago. In 2002 the Tomatina was declared "of touristic interest". I wonder how a tourist agency is supposed to spin it. "Come to this lovely traditional celebration and get turned into a warm mess of mushy tomato"?

I only hope that if the Vulcans come, they don't land over there. That'd be a terrible First Contact.