Today is the International Paella Day, so the World Paella Day Cup was held in Valencia, a competition where 12 international chefs had to compete to make the best paella .
The contest was held in La Marina de Valencia, in the area of La Pérgola, and the winner was the Puerto Rican Joe W. Padilla Castro. His recipe was based on lionfish, sea snail and boriken crab.
Second prize went to chef Miguel Ángel Castro, from Colombia, and third prize went to Japanese chef Shingo Hinokio.
Each of the chefs presented their particular version of Valencian paella and did not follow the traditional recipe. In this sense, the best Valencian paella, the traditional one, was revealed last week in Sueca in another contest where chefs from all over the world also competed.
Finally, the slogan of this year’s World Paella Day was “Paella: A universal language” and was intended to highlight the importance of paella outside Valencia and how it is prepared there.