The event will take place in Valencia Town Hall Square and will bring together more than twenty establishments each day, serving 5-euro portions. The events will feature family workshops, cooking demonstrations , tastings, concerts, and a Rice Grower of the Future Competition. Tastarròs 2025 is here! On October 18 and 19, Valencia’s Town Hall Square will once again host the grand rice festival. An event that will bring together dozens of renowned chefs, producers, and rice lovers in all its forms. You can enjoy tastings, workshops, concerts, and even a Rice of the Future Competition.
“We’re once again highlighting tradition and the product, giving rice the spotlight it deserves,” emphasizes Santos Ruiz, manager of the Valencia Rice Designation of Origin (DOC), the event organizer, which also collaborates with the Valencian Government and Valencia City Council. But it won’t just be tradition; innovation will be evident in the paellas that the various participating restaurants will offer over both days, with creative offerings at affordable prices (€5) and which can be paired with an Estrella Galicia beer, the event’s sponsor (€3).
The secrets of rice
From early Saturday morning, attendees will be able to participate in the event through various activities. At around 11:00 a.m., the now-regular “Masters of Rice” showcooking event will begin, as part of the Tastarròs t’ensenya programme, which this day will be dedicated to popular Valencian recipes. This will be a forum for learning how to cook rice from the most prestigious chefs of the Valencian Community, who will prepare rice dishes rooted in the local identity, although little known outside their hometowns.
At mid-morning, the Urban Rice Dryer and the “Peixca a l’Albufera” exhibition will open. The former will transform the Town Hall Square into a large rice dryer where, as in the past, 10,000 kg of rice will be worked with traditional tools. The latter will feature the boats of the Port de Catarroja fishermen, who will bring them along with their traditional fishing gear to show off to the audience. The rice dryer will once again take centre stage with the Albufera Fastest Rice Dryer Competition , a fun competition to experience the rice field. The winner will receive dinner for two at one of the participating restaurants in Tastarròs 2025.
In parallel, at 12:00h, various family workshops will be held, such as “Make Your Own Rice ,” through which participants will discover the process of preparing and transforming this ingredient. This activity, organized by the Valencia Rice Museum, can be enjoyed by all families. At the same time, the Tastarròs degusta (Tastarròs tasting) will begin, when the 27 participating restaurants on the first day will serve their recipes in portions. From traditional Valencian paella to creative rice dishes, this is the best demonstration that rice can be expressed in all aspects of Spanish gastronomy and in different ways, thanks to the use of different varieties: Albufera, Bomba, and Senia. The finale will be performances such as the Dansa dels Porrots de Silla (Silla Dance of the Porrots) , who perform a unique warrior dance with a Greco-Roman aesthetic that stands out for its strength and symbolism. They will perform the dance, which represents the battle between two opposing sides, in the center of the square, accompanied by the tabal and the dolçaina. Saturday’s programme will conclude with music by L’Alcúdia singer Christian Penalba and artist Diego Barberá.
The rice farmer of the future
On Sunday the 19th, one of the event’s most anticipated activities will kick off: the National Rice of the Future Competition, organized by the Valencia Rice Designation of Origin. The competition will award 2,000 euros to the young culinary talent who presents the best rice proposal.
At the same time, Tastarròs t’ensenya will return to the stage. Fifteen chefs, clearly creative, will discover the new horizons that the most avant-garde chefs are exploring. The ‘Peixca a l’Albufera’ exhibition will continue, as will the Concurso al Llaurador Más Fàpida de l’Albufera , which will be repeated at 12:00h with new opportunities to participate. At midday on Sunday, it will be the turn of another great tasting. Twenty-five restaurants will offer their most surprising versions of rice, combining tradition and innovation, always at affordable prices for visitors. At 1:00 pm, there will be a parade of giants and big heads, followed by a performance by Xavi de Bétera and a DJ session by the famous Valencian comedy duo Jajajers , who have more than 130,000 followers on social media.
Tastarròs returns to demonstrate that celebrating Valencia’s cultural and culinary identity is essential. This time, it’s through a completely immersive experience open to everyone, centered around one of the region’s key ingredients.
Report by ‘24/7 Valencia’ team
Article copyright ‘24/7 Valencia’
Leave a comment