Event Review and Photos by Francisco
(Fco.) Nava
The Fourth Paella Festival of
Lake Chapala promised to be a very special and unique event...and it was! On Saturday
October 19th, 2024 at 12 noon at the Centro de la Cultural y Arte de la Ribera
de Chapala (CCAR) in La Floresta 200 guests, 7 paella teams, a small army of bartenders,
waiters, musicians and volunteers arrived to kick off the delicious annual event.
The Paella Festival is a
culinary competition challenging the competitors to outdo each other by
creating traditional and alternative forms of the well known dish. The event
was a fundraiser for Poco A Poco San Pedro Itzican, A.C., a non-profit
organization that helps the people in the small villages east of Mezcala by
saving people and improving lives.
www.pocoapocosanpedro.com
The afternoon started off
with drinks, appetizers and entertainment. As the guests found their tables the
smooth styling of baritone Victor Danier, Cuban crooner were heard, singing selections
from the American Songbook.
The paella teams exuberantly cooked
away and the guest were free to wander through the cooking area, taking in the
tempting fragrances and freely speaking to the chefs about their varied
paellas. The cooks began to show off their culinary arts, but, above all, their
good humor and camaraderie. Because, unlike the culinary contests so
fashionable in which the contenders suffer and are humiliated, the Paella
Festival of Lake Chapala is, above all, a space for coexistence and joy.
As the guests anxiously
waited for the paellas to be done, they were further entertained by our own
Lakeside Jazz Trio and offered wine selections from La Estramancia and tequila
and mezcal tastings from Taja de la Mora. Spanish cocas and tortillas were
passed around and sampled along with a raspberry liquer specially made for the
event by Paco Romero.
Paco Romero (left)
The creator of the festival is Paco Romero,
“architect by profession and cook by vocation.” On a trip to Valencia, Spain,
he fell in love with paella and learned how to cook it. Regarding his
initiative to create the paella festival, the promoter of Arrocería del Lago
commented “I have come to live here, so this festival is my gift to the lake
and the lake to me. The participants are basically amateurs and professionals,
people who like to make rice dishes. Francisco (Fco.) Nava was co-producer of
the festival along with his brother Paco Romero.
Finally at 3 p.m. the guests
started lining up to taste the paellas. Traditional paella valenciana, squid
ink paella, mixed seafood paella, vegetarian paella were just a few of the
selections and guests were free to try any or all of the aforementioned.
While the guests ate, a
coupon book raffle was held and the winning top 3 paella teams were awarded: 1st
place went to Bernardo Huerta for his mixed paella, 2nd place went to Javier
Jalorno and Bernardo Cisneros for their country paella and 3rd place to
Humberto Rojas, Bernardo Huerto and Juan Carlos Castañeda for their squid ink
paella. After the main course, a dessert of delicious pay de limón (lemon
cheesecake) was served, provided by Pay de Co in Guadalajara.
Then the main attraction took
to the stage and performed a wonderful flamenco show. Chess was the flamenco troupe brought from
Guadalajara to entertain the guests and they got everyone’s blood flowing. They
were a hit and everyone asked after the troupe.
At approximately 6 p.m. the
afternoon wound down and the guests started leaving. They departed with
heartfelt thanks and applauded the afternoon of delicious food, fun
entertainment and wonderful camaraderie.
Look for us next year at the 5th Paella Festival of
Lake Chapala.
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