Every cyclist must try the famous rice dish while they bike Spain! Coming to cycle Spain? Have you had friends and family extolling the virtues of Paella, the most famous and traditional rice dish of Spain? Well then and being a cyclist, you must try it while you are travelling here. Not just to carbo load but it would be like visiting Venice and not having a ride in a Gondola, it is a Bucket list Must! Rice cultivation in Spain came from the Moors in the 10th century. It was then added to local dishes in Valencia, where rice seemed to grow very well indeed because of the temperate weather conditions.
Thus, paella originated in the fields far from the coast, as a hearty lunch for workers where it became common in orchards and fields, to have large dishes simmering over an open fire with the main ingredients of rice, salt, runner beans, rabbit, and also including any slow moving snails slowly cooking. 

On the coast this later developed into adding seafood in shells rather than meat and bea…