On Saturday 13 February, Almeria's Plaza Vieja will host the second edition of the Tomato Day, an initiative that aims to highlight the role of the province's flagship agricultural product.
The Tomato Day, which was already held last year with great success in terms of participation and attendance, aims to become a key annual event for this vegetable. The province of Almeria is a leader when it comes to tomato production, with over one billion kilos each campaign.
The event, organised by Almeria-based horticultural companies in partnership with local media, has the support of the City of AlmerÃa, the provincial government and Cajamar. Alhóndiga La Union is one of Almeria's many fruit and vegetable traders taking part, supplying tomatoes for this year's edition. The companies will offer attendees thousands of kilos of tomatoes, which will be distributed in plastic bags. The symbolic price of each bag will be 1 Euro. All money raised will go to Almeria's Red Cross.
The Tomato Day activities will kick off at 10:30 h. Attendees will first have the chance to enjoy a healthy breakfast and later a snack with tomatoes used as the main ingredient. Both the breakfast, consisting of a slice of bread with tomato and oil and a glass of tomato juice, and the snacks (bread with crushed tomatoes from the Company Primaflor) will cost 1 Euro. The money raised from both tastings will go entirely to ANDA (Association of Children with Disabilities Almeria).
Other activities will include concerts, music shows for children and an exhibition about the tomato cycle, from the seed's planting up until the moment the product hits the market, which will also serve to display the various tomato varieties grown in Almeria.
During the entire day there will also be draws and many surprises for those attending the event.
Tomato tapa route
The Provincial Association of Hospitality Entrepreneurs (Ashal) has also joined the initiative. Five bars located in central Almeria will prepare tapas making use of tomatoes as the main ingredient.