Jamie Oliver and paellagate…
Some readers will be aware of the widespread anger here in Spain at Jamie Oliver’s decision to add his personal touch to one of our national dishes: paella. In case you don’t know him, Oliver is an internationally renowned chef, and what’s more, an all round good guy, who among other things has set up a foundation to help young people from poor backgrounds train as chefs, as well as campaigning to improve the way people eat and raising awareness about child obesity in the United Kingdom, the United States and now in Canada.
What could he possibly have done to anger so many Spaniards? He added chorizo to a paella, that’s what. And as British daily The Guardian pointed out as the twittersphere went into meltdown over this egregious offense, we Spaniards are unable to agree about forming a government or cracking down on corruption, but when it comes to defending paella we apparently stand as one.
But seriously, what sense is there in hurling insults at someone for using the term paella, to describe something which, while not faithful to the original recipe, is used as its basis? What are these self-styled paella purists afraid of? Do they think that unless they rally in defense of their sacrosanct term, the dish will be lost forever among a welter of recipes, all of them abhorrent simply for being different? What’s behind this intolerant “do what you want but do not call it paella”? I’ll call it what I please, or does the word belong to them?
What’s going on in a country where every household and restaurant has its particular take on paella, and where tourists are routinely served up appalling freshly thawed “paellas”, but that is up in arms when someone puts a bit of chorizo in his? The term is not subject to any legal protection, not tied to any rules or territory along the lines of a denomination of origin, and proposing some kind of regulatory paella council, as has been suggested, takes stupidity to a new level.
Maybe I’m missing the point here, but I’m really annoyed at the kind of purism that says: “the term is mine if you use it I’ll insult you” or that anybody unfortunate enough to be born outside Valencia doesn’t know what they are talking about. And sadly, this kind of traditionalism is reflected in a general hostility toward other innovations. Our traditions are not “tainted” because Jamie Oliver decides to put a bit of chorizo in his paella. And if anybody reading this is among those who took to the social networks to rail against Jamie Oliver, the I sincerely believe that you should rethink your bigoted attitudes.
If you want to do something positive, then invite Jamie Oliver to one of those wonderful restaurants at the beach in El Saler, just outside Valencia. Take him into the kitchen, explain all the whys and wherefores of paella, starting with the pan itself, the different varieties of rice, the ingredients, the historical origins that defined paella as a “rice dish made with whatever is on hand” (which at one time included water voles, now a protected species, that abounded in the rice fields of Valencia), the secret of cooking the rice to perfection, the different theories regarding socarrat (the slightly burnt layer of rice)… and with all that under his belt, he can come up with as many variations as he likes. But there’s not need to insult anybody along the way.
Jamie Oliver is a very special person: just about anything he touches turns to gold, and he is prepared to put his talents to helping important causes, displaying a social awareness as impressive as his marvelous addiction to capsaicin.
This is somebody you would rather have as a friend than as an enemy; somebody who I would prefer to think that there are people in Spain who appreciate his creativity and who are willing to contribute to it, rather than seeing us as a feverish, loudmouthed mob railing against those who “offend” our traditions. Definitely, Spain has a problem with innovation: some people are so stuck to tradition, that if you dare to depart from it and introduce even subtle variations, you can find yourself in deep trouble…
The point here is that traditions are at their best when we use them as starting points, foundations on which to build new things. In this world, there is nothing to be gained by digging your heels in, by insisting on purism or rejecting anything new or different. And that applies as much to cooking as to anything else.
(En español, aquí)
