Tomato Blast Comes To Soldier Field

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jun 12, 2013 8:30PM

Image via tomatoblast.com

The tomato, when in season, is a beautiful tasting fruit. Overripe tomatoes have also been used over the centuries around the world as a weapon to signal disapproval with a bad performance, a unsatisfactory meal, or to protest government policy and class divides.

One such incident was believed to have happened in the Spanish town of Buñol in 1945 when a group of young adults who wanted to participate in a parade of gigantes y cabezudos took to throwing tomatoes when they were refused. The following year they repeated the tomato tossing, only they brought their own from home. Eventually the police stopped breaking up the tomato fights and allowed the tossers to throw tomatoes to their hearts content, thus establishing a tradition that has become part of Buñol's tourism industry and called "the world's biggest food fight." Over 45,000 people participate and similar events in Chile and across Latin America have also drawn thousands of people.

Valencia's La Tomatina is the model for Tomato Blast, which moves to Soldier Field this year from Toyota Park. From noon until 6 p.m. July 27, guests can enjoy plenty of cold beer and live music while waiting to toss their share of 100,000 pounds of tomatoes at each other. Bring goggles and maybe wear a couple of layers as even getting hit by an overripe tomato can sting.

Purchase tickets for Tomato Blast here.