Paella

Paella is a rice dish originally from the Valencian Community and one of the best-known symbols of Spanish cuisine. Its name comes from the wide, shallow two-handled pan in which it is cooked, and today it is served in restaurants around the world.

History

Rice reached the Iberian Peninsula from Asia and was grown in the irrigated plains of the Mediterranean coast, where the Arabs of al-Andalus improved irrigation and spread the cultivation of saffron, another essential ingredient. For centuries rice was eaten in simple stews in the region, and medieval and early modern cookbooks record nothing that can clearly be called a paella.

The earliest documented references to arroz a la valenciana appear in manuscripts from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and in 1857 a recipe is generally considered the first to carry the name paella, with a sofrito, meats, vegetables, and eels or snails. In 1896 Víctor Navarro catalogued twenty-four ways of cooking rice in the province of Valencia, many named after the occasion or setting in which they were made.

The dish left its rural setting at the start of the twentieth century. It was served in New York and in restaurants in Paris and London, and during the tourism boom of the 1960s it became a draw for visitors to the Spanish coast. The International Paella Contest in Sueca, founded in those same years, helped shape its image abroad. This wider reach brought variants such as seafood, mixed and mountain paellas, along with ingredients that were not part of the original recipe.

Culture

In Valencia paella is a festive, communal meal, traditionally cooked over a wood fire and eaten straight from the pan. Its preparation is linked to leisure and gathering rather than everyday cooking, and many towns organise large paellas at fiestas, popular celebrations and mass gatherings.

The regional government's agriculture department and the Arroz de Valencia Designation of Origin council have drawn up an ingredient register for paellas that wish to be marketed as paella valenciana. The basic ingredients include chicken, rabbit, flat green beans, garrofó lima beans, tomato, rice, olive oil, water, saffron and salt. Depending on the area, garlic, artichoke, duck, paprika, snails or rosemary are also accepted.

Paella has regional variations within Spain. In Alicante and Murcia the dish includes ñora, and along the coast seafood versions are popular, while inland cooks combine meats such as ribs or rabbit. It is now found in restaurants worldwide and, in some places, its ingredients are adapted using local products or colourings. The Filipino arroz a la valenciana, which uses glutinous rice, shows how far the dish has travelled.

Trivia