Paella is probably the most famous Spanish food. It is a typical rice dish from Valencia on the east coast of Spain. Due to the rich soils for rice and vegetable growing, and the abundance of seafood in this area, you are assured of a variety of quality paella dishes.
Traditional paella pans are used to cook this dish and come in a variety of sizes, depending on how many you are cooking for. It is cooked on an open barbeque and is served as a lunchtime meal. Originally workers in the fields cooked the paella on open fires using whatever they could find, including snails.
There are 2 main theories as to the origin of the word ‘paella’.
- From the Latin word ‘patella’ meaning ‘pan’. Valencians used their word for pan which is ‘paella’.
- From the Arabic word ‘baqiyah’ which means ‘leftovers’. It is said that paella was a poor man’s dish and a way of using up left over food from the previous week.
Communal paella cooking and even paella competitions are common at village fiestas. They started as a way to feed poor people but everyone turned up.
You will find a few varieties of Paella on a restaurant menu. As well as rice, the dishes may also include peppers, tomatoes and beans.
- Paella Valenciana is the original paella, which is made from chicken, pork or rabbit. Or a mixture of them all.
- Paella Marisco. This is a seafood paella and will usually contain prawns, mussels and squid.
- Paella Mixto is a mixture of meat and seafood.
- Paella Vegetal or Vegeteriana is a vegetarian variety.
- Paella Fideus is a paella made of pasta instead of rice.
- Paella Negra is a seafood pasta cooked in squid ink.
There is a paella to suit just about anyone’s taste. It is definitely worth a try during your stay in Spain.
