Every year around this time we feature a story about La Tomatina, the annual huge tomato fight in Buñol, Spain, in which tons of allegedly bad fruit is tossed in what’s called the world’s biggest food fight.
While it results in stunning pictures and lots of publicity, it’s not the only one, by any means. There seems to be a world-wide fascination with people in gooey situations, whether it’s Jello wrestling, greasy-pig contests, or even just eating contests.
So this year, La Tomatina, above, will share the week and our space with another contender for messy glory. Tomatina is Wednesday, but today is the day of the World Gravy Wrestling Championship, in which 20 men and 10 women will take to the wrestling pool for glory and, well, gooey.
However, while the tomatoes of Spain are the real thing, it must be noted that in Stacksteads, near Manchester, where the gravy wrestling takes place, a substitution has taken place. After a couple of years of using gallons of real meaty gravy, it was found that the smell was attracting wasps. So now, it’s an unpalatable cornstarch mixture colored with caramel.
