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‘Wikipaella’ declares war on ‘crimes against rice’

An online 'paella police' platform known as 'Wikipaella' has stepped up its campaign to stop the culinary 'prostitution' and 'crimes against rice' that they claim are commonly perpetuated against Valencia's most famous dish.

Published: 21 February 2014 17:26 CET
'Wikipaella' declares war on 'crimes against rice'
The self-appointed culinary cops aim to name and shame those who fail to respect the traditional dish. Photo: Wikipedia

It is a common sight in tourist areas around Spain: plates of recently defrosted, artificially-bright yellow rice, served direct from the microwave to unsuspecting visitors as 'authentic paella'.

The true Valencian paella is in danger of being lost in this sea of cheap imitations, according to a group called Wikipaella who have sprung up to defend the region's defining dish.

They want to hammer home the message that while all paellas are rice dishes, not all rice dishes are paella.

For them, a true paella respects its local roots and uses only 'Km0' ingredients, such as snails, rabbit, green beans and bomba rice from the nearby Ebro Delta.

The yellow tint should come from saffron, not food colouring.

Like most Valencians, they accept that there are variations within the region, including the ubiquitous seafood paella.

But they reject the "prostitution" of the dish that regularly occurs beyond its borders.

Celebrity chefs in the UK and US seem obsessed with adding chorizo to their own 'real Spanish' paellas, while Wikipaella members recoil in horror from tales of avocado-laden Mexican versions.

Even close to home, discerning diners are not truly safe; there have been reports of poached eggs plopped onto paellas in Valencia itself.

Founding members Guillermo Navarro, Paco Alonso and José Maza have taken it upon themselves to police the plates that purport to be paella.

Speaking to local daily Levante-EMV they explained that they want to "create tools to help people participate in an active way".

On their website, the paella-curious can ask questions about authenticity and restaurants can apply to be certified as serving genuinely authentic Valencian paella.

They want to praise those who make the dish correctly, and name-and-shame the guilty.

"Wikipaella is independent because we aren't dependent on institutions, organizations, religions or anything and it's the criteria of our users that counts," said Navarro.

To get a stamp of approval from Wikipaella, chefs must commit to its manifesto which concludes with a promise to "carry paella in our hearts, and travel with it as far as we can".

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FOOD AND DRINK

Why do they pour cider like that in Spain’s Asturias?

The green northern region’s drink of choice is cider but it’s the method waiters have of pouring it from a great height that catches the attention of ‘out-ciders’.

Published: 29 February 2024 15:40 CET
Why do they pour cider like that in Spain's Asturias?

They say Asturian blood is 50 percent water and 50 percent cider, and given the 40 million bottles produced every year in the region, it doesn’t seem too hard to believe.

However, it’s the method of serving cider in Asturias which really captures the imagination. 

The bottle will either come attached to a contraption which sucks up the cider and splurts it into a wide but thin-rimmed glass.

Or the waiter will come out every few minutes to grab your bottle and glass, lift the former high up with one arm and the latter down low around waist height before pouring some of the cider into the glass from at an arm’s length. 

There’s even a verb for this action – escanciar – to decant.  

The objective is for the cider to be shaken and aerated so that its natural carbon dioxide ‘awakens’.

When it is poured from above and hits the glass, carbon dioxide bubbles are produced that make the aroma of the cider come alive.

It’s good and normal for there to be splashback when pouring Asturian cider, but the aim is still to get most of it in the glass. (Photo by MIGUEL RIOPA / AFP)

These bubbles go away quickly so once served, the customer should quickly drink the culín (small bottom) up in one swig. 

The action of escanciar imitates how cider would be traditionally served when it went directly from big oak barrels to the glass, as cider has been the drink of choice in Asturians since before Roman times. 

READ ALSO: Why Spaniards’ habit of drinking alcohol every day is surprisingly healthy

This is after all natural cider which doesn’t come with the sugar, additives and pre-carbonated mixes of brands such as Strongbow, Magners or Kopparberg.

“It took me some time to get the hang of pouring cider, I missed the mark a lot, and my arm used to get very tired at first,” a Latin American waitress at a bar in Gijón told The Local Spain. 

Many sidrerías (cider houses) and restaurants have cylindrical tubes on wheels where escanciadores (the waiters in charge of pouring cider) can put the glass in to avoid making a mess on the floor or splashing customers, as there is always some splatter even if they don’t completely miss the mark. 

A waiter pours cider for customers at a cider bar in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo (Photo by RAFA RIVAS / AFP)

The more old-school chigres (cider house in Asturian) prefer to have sawdust all over the floor to absorb the spilt cider.

To pour, tirar (throw) or escanciar (decant) cider like an Asturian, you should tilt the bottle slowly from above and aim for the cider to hit the top part of the inside side of the glass, which has to be held at a 45-degree angle. It’s this that brings out the effervescence out in la sidra natural.  

So when you visit the beautiful region of Asturias and you tuck into their famously ample servings of fabada asturiana (Asturian bean stew) or cachopo (meat, cheese and ham all together in breadcrumbs), washed down with one or two bottles of sidra, now you’ll understand what’s behind this eye-catching tradition.

READ ALSO: Eight fascinating facts about Spain’s Asturias region

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