If you are from Valencia and you think that there is only one paella, and I found you, rice with things, in the street, better stop reading. And it is that after the scare caused by that theory that placed paella - the container that gives its name to the dish - as an invention of Basque metallurgy, we have more news from Euskadi: the oldest paella contest in the country and we would dare to say that it is also the most popular and fun in the world is held in Getxo, near Bilbao.
“Are you going to paellas?” It is possibly one of the most repeated questions in recent weeks in Algorta, the coastal town in the Aixerrota area that has hosted this "International Paella Contest" for decades, always around the day of Santiago, on July 25. Originally scheduled this year for the 23rd, the electoral call and the consequent lack of police for the security device that this massive event needs has meant that it had to be delayed a couple of days.
Although the record of seniority and participation sounds like a Bilbainada, it is not. We are talking about a paella contest that dates back to 1959 and that brings together more than 20,000 people, according to Ezkarne Unanue, president of Itxas Argia, the cultural association that has organized this event since its inception. By the way, the famous "International Sueca Paella Competition" -now yes, in Valencia- started in 1961, two years later than the Basque one.
The Bronx
La Gaceta del Norte already in 1959, in the fourth edition of the Paella Contest, echoed its success. At that time the appointment was in Azkorri and 24 participants already showed up. The idea came from Damián Ayo, José Antonio Bilbao “Txirri” and Félix Yurrebaso, who surely did not imagine the success that this simple paella contest would have more than half a century later.
But how many paellas are presented? In reality, it is not known until the same day, explains Unanue. They organize the distribution of the structures that the crews set up to prepare the paellas, but then the decision to present the dish or not is made at the last moment. In any case, it is estimated that some 150 paellas will participate in this edition.
This apparent imbalance between the number of paellas and the public has an easy explanation. The Aixerrota paella contest is, for many, a party. Perhaps the most important of the year in Getxo and there are many who have been going for years, cooking a paella with friends but they don't even consider submitting it to any contest.
This is how Patrizia Vitelli, presenter of the cooking program Txoriene on Euskal Telebista and who has been attending this party since 2016, explains it. Her gang settles in what is known there as "the Bronx", the area that brings together many gangs and that exceeds the 5,000 or 6,000 people expected in the official part.
Although most also cook a paella, it is no secret that here the party wins the game over paella. “Soon we will transition as we get older, but for now it's a party. We go all day to cook, dance and have a good time. The paella that we cook, thank God, is not submitted to any contest because it is usually a rice with things”, acknowledges Vitelli.
unorthodox paellas
"Basque paellicidios", we read in some Valencian media when talking about the Aixerrota contest. Indeed, the paellas in this contest are not that they do not comply with the regulations of the authentic Valencian paella, it is that they seem designed and decorated to cause heart attacks on the shores of the lagoon.
Having seen some photographs from other editions in which some bananas pretend to be dolphins coming out of the sea of rice, Jamie Oliver and his chorizo in the paella could be Valencia's favorite children. "Paellas have a certain level, we are not aware that any Valencian has been angry," jokes the president of Itxas Argia.
Those with meat and seafood are usually the most common, he says. The jury, made up of two veteran tasters of this contest and the winner of the previous edition, assesses the final result, regardless of whether the ingredients or the preparation follow the rules of the Valencian paella. Hint: probably not.
“Any Valencian would poke my eyes out, but first I make a sauce of garlic, onion, green and red pepper, then I brown the chicken, add paprika, tomato and white wine, chicken broth and rice. And we finish off with lemon slices”, Vitelli describes. The paella is usually huge, for about 80 people and, furthermore, the diners at that time of noon and after the whole morning of partying are not usually very demanding with the point or variety of the rice.
rice and party
The profuse decoration of many of those that are presented to the competition is already part of the grace, although in the non-official area the budget or time does not usually leave room for baroque inventions.
Borja Holguera is one of the veterans of 'Paellas'. He has been going to the party for two decades and acknowledges that age also causes priorities to change, but at the age of 20 paella was almost the least of it. “You bought the material for the booth, the drink, and almost at the end, with what was left over, you managed the paella. We have come to do some for 120 people with a budget of less than 100 euros ”, he recalls amused.
And it is that here the assembly of the booths, as if this were some kind of Basque April Fair and paellera, is part of the ritual. Two weeks before -explain the participants- the ground begins to be prepared, a week before the booth is set up, which in the case of many crews includes a bar, and even a small stage, and on paella day the party begins very early.
The deployment and the influx of public is such that in recent years there are usually no shortage of complaints from some residents and environmental organizations about the effects of this contest in this beautiful coastal area and in the Aixerrota pine forest. In reality, they point out, the problem is not the official area like the aforementioned Bronx and this year the Getxo city council has already announced measures to protect some areas, and put order in what some do not hesitate to describe as a "rave" of paellas.
