Fideuà
The fideuà [ fiðe'wa ], from Valencian fideu for vermicelli, is a pasta dish of the Valencian cuisine. It is a variant of the Paella de Mariscos ( seafood paella), from another point of view a variant of Arròs a banda , in which rice and fish or seafood are the main ingredients. For the fideuà, small, hollow hard wheat noodles are used instead of rice and aioli is usually served with it.
Origin and Distribution
The origin of this dish is attributed to the coastal town of Gandia , and a widespread legend has it that this variant of paella was invented because a couple of friends (sometimes called fishermen) forgot to prepare the rice and only had pasta on hand . Another version says that the dish on the fishing boat Santa Isabel was first prepared by the ship's cook Gabriel Rodríguez Pastor when the rice supply for the usual on-board meal preparation ran out. A Fideua competition held annually since 1975 as a tourist attraction in the restaurants of Gandia and later other participants caused the spread of this preparation.
