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49 free Paella trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Paella is the dish Valencians guard most fiercely, and the one the rest of the world most cheerfully gets wrong. It began as a farm-workers' lunch cooked over orange-wood fires beside the Albufera lagoon, took its name from the wide steel pan rather than anything in it, and was first called paella in print in 1840. Today a Valencian will tell you that only two recipes are authentic, that chorizo is a crime, and that the scorched rice at the bottom is the best part. These 49 questions cover the three versions of paella and what goes in each; the word's journey from Latin patella through Old French; bomba and senia rice; saffron, the world's most labour-intensive spice; the socarrat, the Thursday tradition and the rule about eating from the pan; the cousins arros negre, fideua, arros a banda and the Filipino paelya; Hemingway's 1959 visit; the 1992 and 2001 record paellas; the Jamie Oliver chorizo row and the emoji Apple had to redraw. Easy questions cover ingredients and origins; the hardest ask about etymologists, novelists and dates. Every answer is cited to the page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
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Q 01Paella originally comes from which Spanish region?
Valencian Community
Paella comes from the Valencian Community on Spain's east coast, where it developed among rice farmers and is regarded as one of the region's identifying symbols.
Q 02Paella takes its name from what?
Its cooking pan
The word simply means frying pan in Catalan and Valencian.
Q 03Which large flat white bean is a traditional ingredient of paella valenciana?
Garrofó
Garrofó, a large flat white butter bean of the lima family, is one of the core ingredients of traditional paella valenciana, simmered with the meat before the rice goes in.
Q 04Which of these is a traditional meat in paella valenciana?
Rabbit
Rabbit is one of the two standard meats in paella valenciana, browned in the pan with chicken before the rice goes in; duck is an optional addition.
Q 05Which mollusc is a traditional ingredient of paella valenciana?
Snails
Poorer Valencians sometimes used snails as the only meat.
Q 06Which lagoon near Valencia is the traditional birthplace of paella?
Albufera
Paella was born around the Albufera, a freshwater lagoon just south of Valencia city, where rice farmers cooked the first one-pot meals over open fires in the paddies.
Q 07On which day of the week is paella traditionally on Spanish restaurant menus?
Thursday
Thursday is paella day on the menú del día in many Spanish restaurants, a custom that holds across Spain, not just in Valencia.
Q 08Which people introduced rice cultivation to Spain?
Arabs
The Arabs (Moors) of Al-Andalus began cultivating rice in Spain around the 10th century, and rice had become a staple there by the 15th century.
Q 09What is the Latin root of the word paella?
Patella
Paella derives from Latin patella, a small pan, reaching Catalan via Old French paelle; the same root gave Italian padella and French poêle.
Q 10What is the traditional paella pan called in many Spanish-speaking regions outside Valencia?
Paellera
Outside Valencia the pan is usually called a paellera; Valencian speakers use paella for the pan and the dish alike.
Q 11Which etymologist argued paella comes from Old French paelle rather than directly from Latin?
Joan Coromines
Joan Coromines, the Catalan etymologist, argued paella came via Old French paelle, reasoning that direct descent from Latin patella would have produced 'padella'.
Q 12A disputed theory derives paella from an Arabic word meaning what?
Leftovers
The theory links paella to Arabic baqiyah, 'leftovers', but etymologists reject it: the word descends from Latin patella via Old French paelle, with no Arabic-period attestation.
Q 13What rice variety do most paella cooks use?
Bomba
Bomba, a short-grain Spanish rice that resists overcooking, is what most paella cooks use; Valencians themselves often prefer the stickier senia cultivar.
Q 21Mixed paella is sometimes nicknamed what, for its riot of ingredients?
Baroque preparation
Mixed paella (paella mixta), a free-style combination of seafood, land meat and vegetables, is sometimes called a preparación barroca, or baroque preparation, for its riot of ingredients.
Q 22What pejorative name do Valencians give paellas with chorizo and other 'wrong' ingredients?
Arroz con cosas
Valencians dismiss paellas with chorizo or other 'wrong' ingredients as arroz con cosas, 'rice with things', insisting they are not paella at all.
Q 23Which British chef's chorizo paella recipe became a famous 'rice with things' controversy?
Jamie Oliver
Q 14Which flat green bean is a traditional paella valenciana ingredient?
Ferradura
Ferradura (also called bajoqueta) is the flat green bean of traditional paella valenciana; artichoke hearts often stand in for it in winter.
Q 15Which herb is sometimes added to paella in whole branches?
Rosemary
Rosemary is the herb sometimes laid on a paella in whole sprigs; Valencians say it is unnecessary if the snails in the pan have already been grazing on rosemary.
Q 16What rodent was a main ingredient of early Valencian paellas?
Water vole
The water vole (rata de marjal), a marsh rodent of the Albufera, went into early Valencian paellas alongside eel and butter beans in the 18th century.
Q 17Which novelist described Valencians eating water voles in the 1902 novel Canas y barro?
Vicente Blasco Ibanez
The realist novel is set among the fishermen and peasants of the Albufera.
Q 18In what year did a local newspaper first use 'paella' to mean the recipe rather than the pan?
1840
A local Valencian newspaper first used 'paella' for the recipe rather than the pan in 1840, a usage traced by food historian Lynne Olver.
Q 19Which ingredients do Valencians call 'absolutely out of the question' in paella valenciana?
Fish and shellfish
Seafood belongs to paella de marisco, a separate recipe.
Q 20Besides the meat, what does paella de marisco leave out that paella valenciana includes?
Beans and green vegetables
Paella de marisco swaps the meat for seafood and omits the beans and green vegetables of the Valencian original; the shellfish are traditionally served in the shell.
Jamie Oliver's 2016 chicken-and-chorizo paella tweet outraged Spaniards as 'arroz con cosas'; Gordon Ramsay's recipe drew similar complaints.
Q 24Which food writer showed in El Pais that old Valencian paella did include chorizo?
Ana Vega
Ana Vega, the food historian who writes as 'Biscayenne', showed in El País's El Comidista that old Valencian cookbooks did put chorizo in paella, vindicating Jamie Oliver.
Q 25Which wood traditionally fuels the open fire under a Valencian paella?
Orange tree branches
Orange tree branches, plentiful in Valencia's groves, traditionally fuel the open fire under a paella; pine branches and cones are added for aromatic smoke.
Q 26How do diners traditionally eat paella in Valencia?
Straight from the pan
In Valencia diners traditionally eat straight from the pan, each working their own wedge with a spoon; some recipes have the pan rest, covered, for five to ten minutes first.
Q 27What is the prized layer of scorched rice at the bottom of the pan called?
Socarrat
Socarrat is the prized layer of toasted, caramelised rice that sticks to the bottom of the pan, welcome as long as it is not actually burnt.
Q 28Which restaurateur claims the 2001 paella that fed about 110,000 people?
Juan Galbis
Valencian restaurateur Juan Galbis claims his 2001 paella fed about 110,000 people, outdoing his own 1992 paella for about 100,000 that Guinness World Records lists.
Q 29Which Valencian rice town hosts the International Paella Valenciana Contest each September?
Sueca
Sueca, a rice-growing town beside the Albufera, has hosted the Concurs Internacional de Paella Valenciana every September since 1961, drawing cooks from around the world.
Q 30What is the official Unicode name of the paella emoji?
Shallow Pan of Food
The paella emoji's official Unicode name is 'Shallow Pan of Food'; it was approved in Unicode 9.0 in June 2016.