Paella competition in Chelva

As you may know Paella is one of the main dishes in Spain. When we arrived here twenty-five years ago the Dutch consul said to me: “Ben, if you want to integrate in this country you need to know exactly when to talk about soccer and when about paella“.

The paella-recipe is simple. It starts with frying  meat in oil. Then add water and vegetables. Cook the rice in this soup for about twenty minutes. And all that in the well known large, flat pan whether or not on wood fire. Like no other nation Spaniards can talk about food and a discussion on how to make a good paella often degenerates into a heated, semi-fundamentalist debate. “There should only be chicken and rabbit in! No, only fish! You should never do with bell peppers! In particular with bell peppers!” All this of course with a glass of wine in hand.

Last night in our village Chelva we had a Paella Competition. At the Plaza Mayor some twenty wood fires were burning with, on the low tripod, that big iron pan. The whole village smelled to fire and fried meat. The paella of our friends has won any prize but for me he was the world’s best. An we really had a good time till early in the morning.