Rice


The Mediterranean coast boasts some of the most spectacular seascapes in Spain, and a centuries-old devotion for rice

Best time to go

April – October
+

Suggested Length

6-8 days

Ideal Traveller

Glutton
Exquisite
Professional


You haven’t really tried paella until you dive into the Mediterranean rice culture and its extraordinary diversity of preparations. World-renown paella is the shining star, but there are other protagonists in the constellation of decadent rice dishes cooked with seafood and delicacies plucked from the soil.

Probably the most idiosyncratic dish in Spain is also the most profaned, both inside and outside Spain’s borders. If you thought that alarmingly yellow paella with chunks of red chorizo seemed appetizing, then you’ve never tasted proper paella. You’re lucky though, as you have the opportunity to discover a whole new world of intense flavour and textures: the freshness of the barely cooked seafood with the delicious socarrat (burned bottom rice), the depth of the fish broth, the earthly combination of rabbit and snails…

Paella is, like many dishes, a genius born out of necessity. A humble, extraordinarily simple in its complexity, combination of accessible ingredients and rice, today there are a number of combinations around Spain, the paella from Valencia being considered the original and the best. The rice culture in Spain spreads along the Mediterranean coast, first introduced by the Moors, boasting a rich variety of rice dishes from north to south, including the extensive land dedicated to rice production such as the Albufera Valenciana and the Delta del Ebro.

From the rugged and rocky Costa Brava, with its secluded beaches and pristine, turquoise waters, to the infinite sandy beaches of the south of Valencia, rice has a profound footprint in Mediterranean cuisine. This is a journey through some of the finest representations you will find anywhere in the world, a key food staple for humankind.

The Experience

Feel in heaven with a real suquet (fisherman’s soup) or a lobster rice, simmered in a beach bar in one of the thousands of idyllic coves along the
Costa Brava.

Find inspiration in Costa Brava’s maritime tradition, along the cobbled streets flanked by old white walls in beautiful fishing villages that pepper this coast of rocks, pines and transparent turquoise waters.


Enlist with the crew of a fishing boat to really experience what it is to be a proper fisherman. No nonsense, you will rise at night and work as a member of the crew, or almost. In the end, the reward: a traditional seaman’s rice, on board with
the crew.

Infinite beaches with dunes that could belong to the Sahara; cliffs and Mekong-style rice fields, the landscape of the Ebro Delta is as spectacular and surprising as the rice grown and cooked there, simply magical.


Barcelona and Valencia, cities with some of the most unique architecture in the world, beaches with a Los Angeles-like cool vibe, still-active fishing ports, local food markets that hold treasures of produce, and innovation, tradition and the avant-garde in off-the-charts restaurants.

A small village, a family restaurant,
a small kitchen with a huge cook,
secret recipes and infernal embers,
here a myth is cooked, here a legend is forged.
Here, eating paella is a mystical
experience.


 

A Taste of the route

Sea urchin
Suquet:
juicy traditional fish stew
Palamós red prawns
Espardenyes:
a delicacy, fillets of the back of sea slugs
Arroz caldoso de bogavante:
thick rice and lobster broth
Local wines from Priorat region
Arroz negro:
seafood rice cooked with ink squid
Arroz a banda:
rice cooked in fish stock – fish served separately
Paella marinera:
seafood paella
Paella de conejo y caracoles:
paella with rabbit and snails


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