Spanish Paella Day
March 27th is observed for Spanish Paella Day. Paella is a traditional Spanish dish, made with rice, meat or fish, and a delicious sauce. Paella has become very popular and is known around the world. Rice paella originated in Valencia on the East coast of Spain in the mid-19th century in Valencia.
There are several kinds of paella cooked today, but we will tell only about three major styles: paella Valenciana (with green vegetables, meat, snails and beans), paella de marisco (with seafood instead of meat and snails and without green vegetables and beans), paella mixta (free-style paella with any combination of meat, seafood, vegetables and beans). No matter what kind of paella you prefer, its secret is in olive oil and saffron. Saffron gives paella its nice golden color.
At lunchtime, workers in the fields would make the rice dish in a flat pan over a fire. They mixed in whatever they could find – such as rabbits, snails and vegetables. Later, for special occasions, chicken was added. Paella has spread to every region of Spain, as well as worldwide, using almost any type of ingredient that goes well with rice.
