Which novelist described the Valencian custom of eating water voles in Cañas y barro?

Vicente Blasco Ibáñez described the Valencian custom of eating water voles in his 1902 novel Cañas y barro. The book is a naturalist portrait of fishermen, farmers, and families living around the Albufera wetlands near Valencia.

Blasco Ibáñez was born in Valencia and became one of Spain’s major regional and naturalist novelists. Cañas y barro—literally “Reeds and Mud”—focuses on the Paloma family in El Palmar, portraying social tensions, poverty, work, desire, and the changing relationship between people and the lagoon. Its setting makes local food customs part of a broader picture of everyday life rather than an isolated culinary anecdote.

Water voles were among the animals historically available around the Albufera and could appear in older local rice preparations. As living standards and food access changed during the late 19th century, ingredients such as rabbit, chicken, and duck became more prominent in versions of Valencian rice dishes.

A common mistake is to attribute the novel to Miguel de Cervantes or Federico García Lorca. Neither wrote Cañas y barro; the work belongs to Blasco Ibáñez’s Valencian novels, alongside La barraca and Arroz y tartana.