As it would do with an important writer or artist, Cádiz pays homage to las papas aliñas for its contribution to the gastronomy of the province of Cádiz. The fourth annual route of gastronomic delights - “Cádiz La Mar de Bueno” - is dedicated to this dish, but also offers more than a hundred different local dishes to savour.

Until the 14 of December, 24 establishments in the city of Cadiz offer their very best tapas for those who love good food. Special set menus as well as gourmet tasting menus are available at 20, 25, 26 and 30 euros. These 24 establishments hope to serve more than 10,000 menus which will include 103 different dishes and 26 desserts.

The customers themselves will decide on the prize winners. There are six categories: best establishment, best menu, best local dish, best dish and desert elaborated with Sherry, best overall dish and the best value for money menu. Those participating gourmets will receive a passport which they can get stamped at each bar/restaurant they visit and where they can cast their votes.

To start with, the papas aliñas competition

This dish (roughly translated as seasoned potatoes) originated in Post-Civil War Spain. During these times of poverty it was a daily challenge to put food on the table, and in order to serve up a half-decent dish imagination was needed to supplement the scarcity of ingredients. In those days, potatoes were cheap and one of the few foodstuffs that could be afforded by most people.

However, to eat potatoes cooked in the same way, day in day out, was uninteresting and monotonous. Fortunately, some enlightened and anonymous person had the idea of adding a few ingredients which were readily available in all kitchens, namely onions, parsley, olive oil and salt. And so las papas aliñas, one of the most emblematic dishes of Cadiz, was born.

Last 8 November, the semi-final of the papas aliñas competition took place with the participating establishments elaborating this dish in the most original and delicious ways possible. Amongst the entries were papas aliñas paté and three different textures of papas aliñas served with dried salted tuna. On the 30 November the final was held with the establishments themselves voting for the best recipe of their competitors.

With this initiative, the Town Hall of Cadiz hopes to promote local products and cuisine. In this way it hopes to show that the traditional, homemade local cooking which is not given the full recognition it deserves, is more than a match for the constant offer of foreign food, mostly mass produced by multinational companies and franchises.

Gastronomy is also an important tourist attraction. Many of the visitors who come to the province of Cadiz are attracted by its cuisine. The fish and seafood from the Cadiz coast are renowned nationally and are finding their way into the international market.