The paella police would not hesitate to sentence us to hard labor for making an allegation in favor of the paella burrito, and yet no one will convince us otherwise. If the invention seems to you an inedible horror, then the solution is as simple as ignoring it, but let us remember that in Spain we have perpetrated worse crimes.
We agree that the authentic Valencian paella should adhere more to the canons established by tradition, despite the fact that there is no single recipe and that all traditions evolve. But it is also time to accept once and for all that it has become a universal dish that, by crossing borders, adapts, mutates and reinvents itself. Exactly the same thing that we have done in our country with Italian pasta, Hawaiian poke, Chinese food or hummus.
Somebody sent me this atrocity from NY @miblogestublog 😂 pic.twitter.com/8cs90u2ld2
– Bruno Cendon (@BrunoCendon) July 2, 2022
There will be more or less correct ideas -we will never understand this Anglo-Saxon obsession with add sausage Latin style to almost everything-, but the idea of inserting a paella in a Mexican flour tortilla to turn it into a burrito does not seem unreasonable to us. No more sushi than paella, the paella pizza or the paella burger that we have even tried in Spain.
The paella burrito that has achieved a certain virality in networks is the creation of the EZ Paella restaurant of Manhattan, in New York, a modest place run by a couple of Latin origin that simply seeks to offer tasty, homemade, fast and cheap food. According to its owners, the goal of their restaurant is bring the experience closer to enjoy a delicious paella to the neighbors of the neighborhood, also at home, without complications and with affordable prices.
We could to criticize More than their vegetable paella, they have peas, onions and olives, they use long-grain rice or they have a Caribbean version with coconut sauce, although everything would be a matter of trying it before judging. Burritos stuffed with a base of rice are a very common dish and it seems to us a genius use the base of their paellas to offer a cheaper and easier version to eat to go.
If the problem is that they call it “paella”, the debate is another. It must be accepted that the Valencian dish has acquired a universality almost comparable to pizza or pasta, and it is impossible to stop the natural process of cultural appropriation also in gastronomy. If we want Spanish cuisine to be known outside of Spain, we cannot be outraged every time someone dares to give it a twist under circumstances other than our own.
Let us preserve and promote our traditional cuisine, but uncensored any attempt to version it just because it does not conform to some supposed unwritten laws. If EZ Paella customers praise their burritos, Galician empanadas, croquettes and Spanish tortillas, let them enjoy them.
Garcima 5020660 Enameled Valencian Paella Pan 19 people/ 60 cm, Black, 77 x 60 x 5 cm
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