Marbella is not mere a tourist paradise for its sightseeing guarded with a splendid Mediterranean weather; the resort town of Costa de Sol also offers all kinds of food choices. From traditional Andalucían to Spanish special to a variety of international cuisine, you will find almost all to go well with your gastronomic interest.

Being a sea front place, fish occupies an essential part in Marbella food. In fact, the town itself doesn’t have any specialities in terms of cuisine but it serves typical Spanish favourites with a greater inclination towards seafood. However, at every corner of the city you will find some of the finest multi-cuisine restaurants on account of the growing cosmopolitan nature.

The city has a wealth of restaurants…there is Italian, Indian, Chinese and special Thai eateries lined up close to all the famous tourist spots. However, going by the nature of Spain, you will find some interesting options and one can even arrange a special culinary tour in and around Marbella.

Some of the most popular Spanish dishes those are well and frequently served in Marbella are: the Tapas, a snack served with alcoholic drink throughout; Paella, gregarious rice dish available in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian; fried fish etc. You can even taste some typical hams, available in a variety of flavour; these are key components in Spanish cuisine.

Going by the preparation of any Spanish food item, food in Marbella is spicy and richly flavoured. Primarily, tomatoes, potatoes, chilli, citrus fruit and beans are widely used in most of the popular dishes. Locals and visitors also love to have some superbly prepared chicken and shellfish delicacies along with some other which include: Bacalao (salted cod), Butifarra (white sausage) and Chorizo (sausage).

But, the best way to taste some great cookery is to travel to any Andalucían village. In fact, the distinctive aroma of Spanish dishes lies in rural regions, especially inside Costa del Sol. Being once a fishing village, you will have a great variety of fish and seafood dishes prepared in a wooden woven releasing a flavour of its own.

Another principal and widely recognised food item of Spain, and so in Marbella, is Paella. Pronounced as paeya, it’s a delicious mixed rice dish which constitutes a variety of ingredients and recipe, including different types of meat and seafood. Although its origin is linked to the Valencia region, it can be found pretty much everywhere in Spain. And again, Paella in Marbella means applying the seafood formula with fish and rice in the pan.

However, over the years, the food in Marbella is greatly influenced by its own growth from a seaside village town to a flourishing cosmopolitan city. The thriving international business community and the growth of tourism as a major industry have encouraged the establishment of restaurants with some delicate Thai and Italian dishes.

The absolute essence of the feast during a family day out in the country and the original dish for sharing, the paella epitomises Spanish cooking at its simplest and best. First a bit of history: the paella is Valenciana in origin and the first recipes date back centuries.

The idea was to produce a dish that could use up all the local specialities such as rabbit, chicken, green beans, sweet red peppers, olive oil, saffron and rice. Other seasonal vegetables such as peas and artichoke hearts were also added as and when.

Today the paella is still often called “Paella Valenciana” in lots of restaurants but its fame and fans have spread all over Spain. Consequently, there are now myriads of different paella recipes including different sorts of meat, fish and shell fish depending on the regional products. In fact, you could say that there is no fixed recipe at all! Every housewife and kitchen has their own!

However there main basic ingredients, short grain rice, chicken, saffron and red peppers are always present. The method of cooking hardly varies at all either. To make good paella you need time and patience. The absolute essential is the paella dish (paella means saucepan in the Valenciana language).

Paella means Saucepan in the Valenciana Language

This is a shallow dish with two handles which comes in a range of sizes depending on how many you are cooking for, although it should have a minimum diameter of 30 cm and sides of 7 cm. These dishes can be bought readily in hypermarkets along with all the appropriate implements and paraphernalia.

Huge paella dishes, to feed 40 plus, can be bought in ironmonger shops (ferreterias) and for the cheats you can even buy electric paella dishes. Although this definitely detracts from the fun of building the fire or barbecue! In fact the biggest paella made was to feed 1500 people in the town of Arquillo near Jijon. This was to celebrate their Festival of San Anton in January and included 110 kilos of rice, 5 boxes of squid, 50 kilos of chicken and 20 kilos of pork! A communal dish indeed!

To make paella you first need to cook the meat and/or the fish for about 10 minutes, then take out the prawns (if you are including them) so they don’t disintegrate and add all the vegetables chopped up with your spices and seasoning. Saffron is a much more flavoursome option than the horrible “colorante” or even turmeric.

Soak the strands in a little hottish water before adding them and the water. Cook the dish for a few minutes longer then add the rice and cover it with stock. The rice should take around 30 minutes to absorb all the liquid and it should really be stirred. When it’s done leave it to stand a while and then decorate with lemon quarters and the prawns… y voila!

Paella is best experienced out of doors at group occasions or at a special do such as a First Communion. Often there will be a family in the town or village who specialize in making large delicious paellas and they will be contracted in to do the honours. Children love watching paella being made and can often be roped in to dole out the steaming plates when it is ready!

Fish is a major part of the Mediterranean diet and thank heavens, in this part of the world, its popularity is not waning. They are still a regular part of the family’s weekly menus, not just a once a week or one off special! Obviously living on the Costa del Sol helps-most of the fish in the shops, vans and restaurants here is so fresh they can virtually swim away. Villages inland are very well served as well, refrigerated vans stock up at the markets in the ports very early in the morning and immediately head into the hills. By 8 or 9 o’clock the streets are resounding with the persistent hooting of the vans and the stray cats are forming queues at all the vans regular stops!

On an average day there will be at least two or three species that have been caught very locally in Spanish waters, there is no need to purchase fish caught in North Atlantic or even worse Pacific waters! Lets start with one of the best the Tuna! This beauty, when cooked fresh, is a completely different beast from the hideous contaminated canned tuna. It’s even better, eaten raw in Sushi. Tuna can be caught all along the Mediterranean coast and also around the Straits of Gibraltar down to Cadiz on the Atlantic Coast. The Almadraba coast (an Arabic term) ranges to Barbate, on the Costa de la Luz. This is one of the ports which is most associated with tuna and some of their smoked and potted tuna products are out of this world!

Other large fish which are always a favourite, especially with children as they can be cooked so they look more like meat than fish, include Sword fish (pez espada) and pez limon (no real name in English ). Both delicious grilled and served with a simple salad!

Sardines will be forever associated with the Mediterranean and all those delicious lunches eaten in Chringuitos. The smell of the “espetos”, which cook on a barbecue, burning in an old fishing boat, perfumes the air. Espetos are skewers of fresh sardines rolled in sea salt and cooked to perfection, normally by the grandfather of the restaurateurs, until they melt in your mouth. A very cheap, fresh and nutritious purchase! The younger brother of the sardine is the anchovy or Boquerón. These can also be fried whole like our whitebait, or can be canned in delicious extra virgin olive oil or, to my mind, best, pickled raw in oil and vinegar. Boquerones are one of the tapas staples- simply served with some bread to mop up the oil and a bit of parsley to aid digestion!

Next up in the local stakes are the Squid and octopus and their variously sized relatives. Choco are medium sized squid and puntillitas are the very tiny sized ones –neither of these delicious dishes are really to the Northern European palate and are particularly despised by children! However the dreadful calamares, rings of octopus, seem to be very popular-no matter how indigestibly chewy they are! Other Spanish regulars include Merluza-Hake, which is available virtually all year round fresh and frozen, and is a very adaptable and cheap purchase.

Fish to avoid either because of their taste, looks, bones or origins abound in the fish market! The salt cod (bacalo) is delicious if soaked and prepared properly but it is very easy to produce a salty and boney mess that can be positively dangerous. Aurelie are also very boney but cheap too! The main fish that you need to avoid are the completely illegal “chanquetes”. These are immature fish of all different species and, whilst they taste delicious fried, their consumption will rapidly ensure that stocks of mature fish dry up. Unfortunately you still see boxes of them for sale outside most fish markets. Don’t buy them.