The winner of the first world paella competition I World Paella Cup, which was held at the Mestalla stadium in Valencia on September 20, was the Spanish restaurant La Ferrera. In the final, it defeated a rival from Italy (Restaurante Albufera), and before that it had overpowered the Australians (Restaurante Simply Spanish). In total, representatives of 8 countries took part in this competition: in addition to the three above-mentioned countries, there were China, Japan, the USA, France and Romania.
During each of the «buttles», an expert jury, whose members consisted of famous chefs and experts in the field of gastronomy assessed multiple parameters − from ingredients to ways of cooking, but the resulting taste of the dish was of a decisive importance.
The initiators of this tournament were the City Hall of Valencia and the Department of Tourism of the Valencian Community. Thus, the local authorities expect to attract foreign tourists and residents of other regions of Spain to human settlements of the autonomy, where different varieties of this world-famous Spanish dish are prepared. These towns include Cullera, Sueca, Ayora, Villajoyosa, Alicante, Santa Pola, Javea, Onda, and Villarreal.
