La Tomatina is an annual Spanish food festival that begins on the last Wednesday in August. The festivities consist of cooking contest, parades, dancing, fire works, and the famous tomato fight. The festival takes place in Bunol Spain. More then one hundred metric tones of tomatoes are specifically grown for the event. Since the festival evolved in 1945 there has been a debate over this festival is wasteful. I believe that La Tomatina is a creative way to use over ripe tomatoes, stimulate the economy, and to define a culture.
The tomatoes that are used for La Tomatina are from Extremadura (A western region of Spain, which has climate influences from the Atlantic Ocean.) Therefore the tomatoes grown in that region lack taste, and normally wouldn’t be consumed. That is why they are sent to Bunol and used for the festival. The fruits are also over ripe so they would be sent to decompose anyways.

Bunol has a population of nine hundred, and an estimated 20,000-50,000 Tourist travel to take part in La Tomatina. Since such volumes of people are visiting a small town at the same time, most fun seekers find accommodations in Valencia (a larger city 38 Km away from Bunol.) Tourism can be a great way to stimulate an economy, and even better this festival involves economic activities in three cities (Farmers to grow tomatoes in Extremadura, Hotel and Hospitality services in Valencia, and other various jobs in Bunol.)
Culture is the way of life shared amongst a group of people. A large part of culture is festivals. La Tomatina makes the Spanish Culture distinct from other European cultures. Being part of La Tomatina gives the participants a sense of cultural identity.
In conclusion La Tomatina isn’t wasteful, it is rather a way to gives those a cultural identity, stimulate the economy, and use tomatoes that would other wise wrought.