Valencia is a lot like California.

yes, it's me, liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦

BTW
after 1492, many Moros and Sefaradís escaped from Castillian occupation to the then independent kingdom of Catalunya, which included Valencia; because Spain was organized into independentish kingdoms.

Valencia, which had been part of Al-Andalus at one point, became producer & exporter of rice. it’s why we have PAELLA VALENCIANA.

paella is valencian catalan for frying pan.

most of what USA thinks is Spanish/Castillian food is actually Valencian/Catalán Sefaradí/Moro food…🧵
🧵

yes, it's me, liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦

i was a personal chef for a short while (yes, am a trained cook and i kick ass and take names in the kitchen), and i ended up having quite a number of conservative Jewish clients, so had to learn a lot about Kosher cuisine.

in my research i found that 2/3 of Puerto Rican cuisine is right out of not just Valencia but sefaradí and moro cooking.

i later found out i could be Jewish from mami’s side. it makes sense: a lot of mami’s traditions seemed Jewish to me after my cooking experience… 🧵

yes, it's me, liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦

Spanish historians have a word for that: cryptojudaism.

anyhoo, back to paella valenciana.

it was in my research of Spanish kosher & halal food that i came across the history of paellas.

they were traditionally cooked in the fields during harvest. because Valencia produces so many oranges, orange wood for kindle is everywhere. it supposedly was treated as the extra flavoring in paellas.

so i now deglaze with orange juice before adding the rice to my paellas. it does make it taste right. /🧵

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@blogdiva There is no Paella Valenciana, because all Valencia IS Paella!!

My Grandma (Yaya) taught my mom (her daughter in law) how to make paella over a fire. Hers was generally rabbit and seafood (muscles, clams, prawns) because that was what most people had easiest access to! We use chicken most often now instead of rabbit but it is always amazing!!

yes, it's me, liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦

@chris where did you buy that paella?!? that's the one i been looking for! that’s cast iron and you can use it in a campfire or put it on a stove and in an oven, right?

wendy boucek for Kamala

@chris @blogdiva This has major witches’ cauldron vibes.

yes, it's me, liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦

@wendinoakland @chris FWIW: the image of witches is 100% antisemitic, and by that i mean, they’re meant to slander europeans of both Jewish and Arab ancestry. vampires are the Jewish blood libel personified.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@blogdiva @wendinoakland

I did not know!

drukac

@blogdiva @chris

Here to nitpick with an otherwise informative thread. Chris is correct. In Valencia many people cite snails and molluscs as traditional ingredients, but not shrimp, prawns and langostinos which came from open sea fishing. The way I learned it, after chicken, labourers would add meat from species which ate the crops like, rabbits, hares, and snails. So, I’m not sure paella has exclusively kosher origins, but I would understand if kosher and halal versions evolved over time.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@drukac @blogdiva Jewish peoples existed in Valencia and around the region for centuries alongside the Moorish rulers as the Islamic faith was more willing to have non-Muslim groups living amongst the majority. That all changed with the re-conquest of the Christian kings. So as far as food? Who knows how far back the paella form of eating goes? Roman? Visigoth? Moorish? Christian? I honestly don't know, but I am sure it has evolved with all of it!

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@blogdiva It is an old paella! I am not sure where my mom got it. She may have got it from Yaya. It is cast iron. Very easy to use anywhere and easy to clean! And the stand it is sitting on over the fire is custom made by metal working friend! We used to just have it directly on the bricks in the fireplace.

yes, it's me, liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦

@drukac @chris the one with snails and seafood isn't the only one. the most common paella used to be with rabbit.

and that's the thing, depending on the original recipes you can tell if it was first developed from non-christian spanish people.

"traditional" for Spanish food is a misnomer because Spain has never a nation. it's an amalgam of nations barely glued together by imperialism.

drukac

@blogdiva @chris
Oh yes, I only used 'traditional' in the sense that Valencian communities are trying to rescue their folk history after years of having it vandalised by tourism and globalisation.

1/2

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@drukac @blogdiva if not outright supressed by authoritarians like Franco and his descendants!

(said in the stern voice of my Valencian Republican Grandfather!)