The Regional Museum of Horta Sud Josep Ferrís March (Torrent, Valencia) exhibits the exhibition ‘Valencian rice for the Queen of Spain’, a show that aims to confirm the importance of the increase in the cultivation of rice in the century 18th century and which allows you to see “in the first place” real menus in which ‘arroz a la Valenciana’, the original number of the paella, appears as the main dish.
Thus, the exhibition -which can be visited for free until April 5- brings together original menus, handwritten by the Marqués de Campo-Villar, written between 1788 and 1789.
This documentation demonstrates the relevance and evolution of the increase in rice cultivation in the 18th century and how it became from basic and daily sustenance for the most needy classes of Valencian society, to one of the favorite foods for the most important table of the world, that of Queen María Luisa de Parma, initiating gastronomic authenticity in the Spanish court.
And it is that, through information panels and showcases in which original documents can be seen, the selection recounts how the emigration of many Valencian men and women to the town of Madrid, as well as the contact of religious in the kitchens of the convents of Spain and the American viceroyalties fostered the international success of what was then called ‘Valencian rice’, which would later be called Valencian paella.
The curator of the exhibition is Luis-Martín Ramírez, founder and owner of the Espínola Collection, one of the most important collections of flamenco engravings from the 16th and 17th centuries in all of Spain. Ramírez has participated in numerous projects related to history and is the author of two books, an investigation on the first director of engraving of the Royal Academy of San Carlos, Julian Más y Gasch from Alcorino, and another on the history and Valencian origin of the horchata
For the curator, “we are facing an important finding, which means going back 30 years in the last written reference to Valencian-style rice, which was from the first quarter of the 19th century.”
Specifically, it was in 1818 when Francisco de Paula Martí Mora made reference to the cooking procedure of the grass. “In order for Valencian rice to come out as those native ones do, it must be cooked over a very active fire,” explained Martí Mora in a chapter of the updated reissue of Alonso de Herrera’s General Agriculture.
The president of the Museu Comarcal and of the Mancomunitat, José Francisco Cabanes, invites all the residents of the region to visit this exhibition to “learn a little more about our history”. “I want to invite all the residents of the region to come and discover this wonderful exhibition that talks about us because rice is in our DNA and take the opportunity to discover all the wonders that our regional museum hides,” he urged.
