The Valencian coastal city called the birthplace of fideuà is Gandia.
Fideuà is a seafood dish made with noodles instead of rice, cooked in a wide, shallow pan in a style closely related to paella and arròs a banda. Its usual ingredients include noodles, fish, cuttlefish or squid, and shellfish, with lemon commonly served alongside it.
The traditional origin story places its invention in the port district of Grau de Gandia. Gabriel Rodríguez Pastor, a boat cook, reportedly substituted noodles for rice because the captain took so much of the crew’s arròs a banda that the sailors received too little. The noodle version was popular with the crew and later spread to restaurants around the harbor.
Gandia remains central to the dish’s identity. The city lies in La Safor, a Valencian comarca, and hosts an annual fideuà competition. A common mix-up is to call fideuà a noodle paella: the preparation resembles paella, but its defining base is pasta rather than rice.