Outrage after guests crush tomatoes under feet at Mumbai wedding function

Screengrabs from videos Instagrammed by @europnlove

A couple that took inspiration from Spain’s famous La Tomatina festival to organise their Haldi ceremony is now facing flak for food wastage. An Instagram Reel which shows guests crushing tomatoes under their feet has invoked the collective wrath of the internet.

The Haldi ceremony took place in Mumbai earlier this month. The bride and groom, named Piyush and Navika, organised a large pit filled with tomatoes. Guests were invited to pick tomatoes for a food fight. A video from the ‘Tomatina Haldi’ – as they christened the function – shows guests jumping on tomatoes to crush them under their feet.

The video has been taken down, but the Instagram account where it was posted is still open to public. Other videos shared by the couple have received critical comments from Instagram users asking them to apologise for wasting food.

Screenshots of the video also reached Reddit, where commenters did not hold back their criticism.

Some people slammed the couple for disrespecting food. Others said that the La Tomatina festival uses overripe tomatoes that will likely not be eaten, whereas the couple here used tomatoes that are perfectly edible still.

“The thing about Tomatina festival is that they use ripe, wasteful tomatoes. Not this green spotted, unripe, fresh, rock solid tomato produce... Also idk but maybe it is my Indian instincts to not throw or step on potential food,” wrote one commenter.

“My Indian self could never step on food. Also, these things might be OK for foreigners to do because you know, their population isn’t dying of hunger, but in India, this is just unacceptable,” another said.

La Tomatina is a popular annual festival held in Spain. The festival is known for being one of the world's largest food fights, where participants throw overripe tomatoes at each other.