La Tomatina is the world’s largest food fight and takes place in Bunol, a small town in Spain’s Valencia region with a population of just 9,000 people. It features a week’s worth of music, parades, dancing and fireworks and culminates with over 30,000 participants descending on the town to hurl overly ripe tomatoes at one another as they run through the streets.

MSN Video: see the slingers in action

Although the mass tomato slinging can be best described as utterly chaotic, there are a strict set of traditional rules that must be met before battle can commence. At 11am, a ceremonial ham is placed upon at the top of a tall greasy pole. People struggle against one another to grab the ham. Once it has been successfully retrieved, water cannons are fired to signal the start of the food fight.

La Tomatina isn’t considered a competitive sport. When the food fight begins, it really is every man for himself. Tomatoes are collected by the bundle from trucks in the town centre, Plaza del Pueblo. They are then hurled in every direction and at any moving target. After 60 minutes of terrifying tomato tossing, water cannons signal the end of the fight. Fire trucks then drive into Bunol to clean up the town while contestants head to the Bunol River for a quick rinse.

Although La Tomatina has been a regular tradition in Bunol since the mid 1940s, no one is 100% certain how it actually began. There are, however, many theories including Bunol councilmen being pelted by disgruntled locals, a practical joke being played on an untalented local musician and the anarchic aftermath of an accidental lorry spillage. Another theory suggests that city officials cast the first tomato to break up an overly amorous group of friends. Regardless of the real reason, the tradition has definitely endured and provides one of the summer’s most vivid spectacles.