Paella: Official 'cultural heritage', with UNESCO application on the cards

EATING a piece of UNESCO heritage might not be on your weekend to-do list – after all, biting into the Alhambra Palace or taking a nibble of the Segovia aqueduct would, at best, disappoint in terms of flavour, and probably at least knock a few teeth out. 

But when that UNESCO heritage is paella, it's in the Sunday in-tray for a huge percentage of families in the eastern coastal provinces.

When told paella 'comes from Valencia' and that they 'need to go there' to try the 'real thing', many make the mistake of heading for Spain's third-largest city – they will still get a brilliant paella, but when describing its origins as 'Valencia', what we mean is the region, not just its biggest metropolitan area.

So, those who want to get a taste of this most international of Spain's dishes 'where it came from' can go to Valencia city if they wish, but in any town or village across the provinces of Alicante, Valencia or Castellón, an area about the size of Wales with around five million inhabitants, they will find an equally-authentic paella. 

Also, what non-Spaniards might call 'paella' is not necessarily: Literally hundreds of recipes for it exist, but many hundred more that look like a variation on it are simply called 'rice with'.

On a menu translated into English, 'rice with beans and turnips', for example, will probably be written as 'bean and turnip paella', so diners have a better vision of what they might be ordering and will not just picture a plateful of boiled white rice with a few vegetables in it.

If it's not actual 'paella' but 'rice with', it will still taste paella-like to the average diner, but will be written as arroz con.

'Paella Valenciana' is probably what you are more used to seeing – a 'surf and turf' version, its ingredients include meat and seafood – although seafood paella without meat, or even vegetarian paella with neither, are equally as commonly-sighted, and eaten, in restaurants across the entire region.

Clearly, meat and vegetable ones will dominate more the farther you travel from the coast, since restaurants in Spain are, on the whole, more keen to work with fresh, locally-sourced produce, as past generations did – and particularly nowadays with more emphasis on supporting local suppliers, optimum nutrition, and reducing one's carbon footprint.

Valencia's claim to culinary fame 'keeps the community together'

Now, the Valencia region, or Comunidad Valenciana, wants to turn paella into UNESCO Intangible Heritage.

But that's the long-term aim: Rewinding a little, the immediate plan is to grant paella the status of Bien de Interés Cultural Inmaterial, otherwise known as a BIC, and which approximately translates to 'Intangible Heritage Interest Asset', and works in the same way as a national or regional version of the UNESCO tag.

The process for declaring paella a BIC Inmaterial has already started, and was announced yesterday (Friday) in the Official State Bulletin (BOE), the site – in the past, a printed document – which is updated daily with legal and government official statements.

In it, paella is described as having 'diverse variants' throughout the Valencian region, which 'results in a process that encompasses all the villages, towns and cities in the Comunidad Valenciana' – in other words, the Comunidad Valenciana is the 'home' of paella, any location within it that serves it will be giving you a 'native' version, but types available in addition to the more popular and standard ones will be very flexible and bespoke.

“Paella is the epicentre of the Valencian culinary tradition and the backbone of it; this, together with its preparation process and its cultural relevance in Spain, has turned it into one of the most prestigious global brands,” the BOE states.

It's not just a dish, the announcement argues, but an edible 'thread' linking the whole of Valencian society together – it is the subject of local, national and international paella bake-offs, family events, university and college parties, fiestas, celebrations, weekend leisure, closing and opening parties, official engagements, exhibitions, and formal receptions and conferences in embassies.

And it encompasses 'each and every one of the region's groups, communities and societies', if not actually those of the 'vast territory of Spain as a whole', according to the BOE.

Its origins come from the days when rice was an affordable staple – it is grown in the salt-marshes between the far north of the province of Alicante and the city of Valencia, engulfing the coastal stretch of the southern half of Valencia province – and, in the cases of the very poor, especially rural communities living off the land, often made up the bulk of their diets or was even the only real nutritious ingredient they were able to eat.

Local people will tell you that as recently as the 1970s, and certainly in the post-war years – when hunger and poverty were widespread and over a third of the workforce was in agriculture – that at the weekends, the whole family would go out into the countryside searching for ingredients to put in the rice pot.

Whatever wildlife they caught or plants they pulled up would be thrown into the rice and become Sunday lunch.

But paella is served up at top restaurants, of the type where the bill per head exceeds the weekly income of the lowest earners, and can include élite ingredients which are far from your 'TV lap-dinner' fare: Dénia red prawns, lobster, sea-urchins and other types of fish or seafood that fetch a hefty price at early-morning harbour auctions.

To this end, paella is probably the most classless dish in the Comunidad Valenciana, if not actually in Spain – it is accessible to, eaten and loved by everyone from those who struggle to make ends meet through to those who can afford the most lavish, exquisite and luxury lifestyle.

And it is almost certain to be the very first dish anyone would mention if they were asked to name something symbolic of 'Spanish cuisine'.

It is true that the relevant authorities want paella to achieve national and international recognition – more than it has already – but by not making a very clear point about the fact it is specifically Valencian, rather than merely 'Spanish', its promoters are missing an opportunity to put the Mediterranean region firmly on the world map.

To this end, they are seeking a Denomination of Origin, or Certificate of Origin – known simply as a 'D.O.' in most of the Latin-based languages – in the same way as is already held by Feta cheese, Greek yoghurt, champagne and various other wines, cheeses and olive oils.

This means the products in question cannot be called 'Feta cheese', 'Greek yoghurt' – or paella – unless they are either made in Greece or, in the case of paella, in the Comunidad Valenciana, or they follow the exact same processes using standard ingredients.

Once all this is in place, Spain and the Valencia region will seek the ultimate kitemark: UNESCO Intangible Heritage status.

“To obtain a greater level of protection and to safeguard this cultural asset, we will be examining the possibility of taking the relevant steps for this dish to be declared World Intangible Heritage by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organisation (UNESCO),” the BOE announcement reads.

Next time you pop to a local restaurant and order from the paella menu, know that you'll be taking mouthfuls of history, tradition, and a global asset that makes Spain famous and should be making the Comunidad Valenciana famous, too.

Paella normally has to be ordered in advance, and is typically for a minimum of two people, but if it is part of a menú del día, or cut-price lunchtime set menu, you'll get it at the usual speed of course delivery and for one.

As is the case in Spanish restaurants in general, if you can't finish it – and it's surprisingly filling – just ask the staff if you can 'take it home with you', and they'll pop it in a disposable covered takeaway tray at no extra cost.

And if reading this has made you hungry, then good: Restaurants are now open for normal trade in most parts of Spain, even though they have to close earlier in some regions, and in the few areas where they are not, many will still be offering a takeaway or home delivery service – so go out and order yourself a paella and enjoy.