FOOD

Valencia is best known for oranges, delicious seafood, and great wines.  More importantly, this is the birthplace of the famous national dish Paella which is a stir-fried rice dish distinctive for its use of saffron for flavor and coloring.  Another unique feature of Valencia's diet is that, while most Spanish rely on long crusty bread loaves as their staple, the people of Valencia consume rice which is grown in large quantity in this region instead. 

Recipes for Paella have been diversified so much throughout the years that there are more than hundred variations to be found although the most basic is just the rice cooked with saffron, chicken or rabbit and green peas.  The best known is perhaps Paella Marinera which is saffroned rice with seafood and vegetables.  Paella Mixta is a variation of Paella Marinera with an addition of chicken, whereas Paella a la Valenciana which includes ingredients like sausage and peppers is better known outside Spain.  A really good Paella must be cooked in a flat pan called Paellera and not on a gas stove but on a charchoal-fire.  Fideuá is a dish similar to Paella, but the rice is replaced by a particular kind of noodles.  Another specialty is Arroz Negre, "Black Rice", which owes its color to the ink of cuttlefish.  The rice dishes are traditionally served with Allioli, a traditional side made with olive oil and garlic.

Other popular dishes of Valencia include Gazpacho, a cold soup of bread, tomatoes, garlic, salt, vinegar and oil; Olla churra, a dish made from pieces of pork and black pudding; Hervido, a dish made with beans and potato; All i pebre, eels in garlic sauce; esgarrat, salted cod with sweet peppers; figatell, meatballs made from liver; Chorizo, a spiced pork sausage and a porridge called Gachas.  Favorite tapas include the Spanish omelette (with potatoes), fried squid, peppers, baby squid and a lot more.  

For postprandial sweets and drinks, Valencia's stars other than the region's fresh oranges are the Arnadí (a pie made from sweet potatoes), a mona de Pascua (traditional Easter pastry), los dulces de Sant Dionís (marzipan sweets), El arrop i talladetes (fruit or vegetable slices served with brown sugar syrup), and rosegons (toasted almond cake).  The typical drink include the refreshing Horchata de chufa which is a refreshing milky drink made from tiger nut, often accompanied by Fartons (a kind of sweet breadstick).  If you'd like to order liquor, try Agua de Valencia which is a drink made with orange juice mixed with Catalonian wine called Cava.  Alternatively, you can also try quality Valencian wines - white from the Alto Turia and Serranía areas, or red from Requena, Utiel and Campo de Llíria.