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Eating in Valencia
Valencia has a varied, natural and very traditional gastronomy. Its excellent products are the result of sun, sea and fertile lands and they have become the base of a healthy, tasty and high quality gastronomy. The principal ingredients of its dishes are fruits, vegetables, fresh fish and shellfish, but definitely the main protagonist is rice and Valencian people cooked it in countless ways, there is great number of recipes such as arros a banda, arros negre, arros al forn, arros amb bledes, arros amb fesols, etc.
There are plenty of the dishes made of fish and shellfish in the Valencian gastronomy, this is because the city is located near to the Mediterranean sea. Among the most used fishes in Valencian food we can mention the eel, the hake, the sea bass, the gilthead, the red mullet, and many others.
Inside the province the food is very alike to the Castilian gastronomy. In this zone are typical excellent dishes such as "la Requena", "la olla de invierno", "la olleta", etc; They also can be enjoyed another dishes such as the shepherd's cake ("la torta de pastor"), "la sopa cubierta" and the "bajoques farcides" (stuffed peepers).
La paella valenciana
It is the most representative dish of the Valencian food, at the same time is the most famous of Spain and the most internationally extended. The genuine paella is cooked with firewood and its main ingredient is rice. From the paella have been derived several dishes, that are prepared in similar way.
Candies and the horchata
Valencia has an extensive pastrymaking. Among these excellent desserts we can found the "arnadí" which is made of pumpkin and almonds candy, there are also classic dishes such as the pumpkin fritters with chocolate, the "rosegons", or the "fartons", a candy that usually is served with a very traditional drink called horchata.
The horchata is one of the most representative Valencian drinks, it is sweet, it is ivory colored, and has a consistence seemed to milk. This drink is made of a plant called "chufa", a plant very similar to rice, which is only produced in Alboraya, a nearby town to Valencia. In the beginning it was a medicinal drink, but at present it has become in a very popular soft drink that is normally served very cold.
Paella Valenciana
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Horchata and Fartons
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