Issue date: 11 Oct, 2019
THE POSTAL UNION OF THE AMERICAS, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL (UPAEP). TRADITIONAL FOODS. PAELLA
Since 1989, the UPAEP member countries have issued a philatelic series with stamps based on a common theme. This year the subject is traditional foods.
Spain is issuing a stamp dedicated to one of our most famous recipes, known around the world: paella.
Much has been said and written on the origins of paella, its variants, and whether all rice dishes with saffron can be called paella.
Most sources date its origin to the 15th and 16th centuries, in rural areas of Valencia. Farm workers needed easy recipes they could make with the ingredients they had to hand in the fields.
The ingredients of paella were poultry, rabbit or hare, and fresh vegetables. They would all combine with rice, saffron, olive oil and water to make a paella, which was also the name of the pan used to cook it.
Cooked over a slow fire of orange wood cuttings, paella was usually eaten in the evening after a hard day’s work in the fields.
According to the purists, this is the origin of the authentic Valencian paella, but these days we can enjoy many other recipes.
For example, a seafood paella in which the ingredients, as well as rice and saffron, usually include prawns, mussels and langoustines. There are also fish paellas, mixed paellas, black rice, and “caldosos” or soupy rice dishes.
Although the name probably originates with the Latin “patella”, a romantic theory has it that a man prepared this dish for his girlfriend to win her affections, and that the word “paella” could come from “para ella” - for her.
Correos’ stamp issued as part of the America UPAEP series shows a paella with a spoon in the foreground.
The paella is one of the iconic images of Spain, and many visitors to our country hope to try this ancestral recipe.
Rate A - €0.75. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, up to 20 g.
Rate A2 - €0.85. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, between 20 g and 50 g.
Rate B - €1.65. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to Europe (including Greenland), up to 20 g.
Rate C - €1.75. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the rest of the world (except USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand), up to 20 g.
Rate D - €2.10. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, up to 20 g.