The controversy about what an “authentic Valencian paella” is like has crossed the Mediterranean to Italy, where it has been confronted with what a “true Italian pizza” is with the humor of the Valencian comedy duo ‘jajajers’ and the complicity of Francesco Aquila, winner of Master Chef Italia 2021.

It all started when Aquila, chef of Giorgio Armani or the AC Milan soccer teamamong others, uploaded a video to social networks doing what he called it an “authentic Valencian paella” and among whose ingredients there were “prawns, clams, peas… and chorizo!”

He ‘jajajers’ duo, formed by Jorge García and Alexis Martínez and with thousands of followers on social networks, he then decided to “get revenge” by recording another video in which they cooked a “true Italian pizza” with “a lot of pineapple” (the whole piece of fruit) in addition to “spaghetti or macaroni” and that went viral.

As Alexis Martínez explains, the Italian chef, far from getting angry, contacted them to ask them what the authentic recipe for Valencian paella was like and asked them to teach him how to make it. Jorge and Alexis then invited him to come to Valencia.

He Italian chef traveled a month and a half ago to El Palmar, in Valenciaone of the world’s epicenters of rice, where the ‘jajajers’ were waiting for him along with Juan Carlos Galbis, master paellero and first chef to get a Michelin Star in Valencia.

Together they cooked a traditional Valencian paella, following all the steps, and the result is a tutorial video that is “sweeping” social networks, both in instagramwhere they have about 84,000 followers, as in Youtubewith more than 7,000.

Francesco Aquila has already invited the ‘jajajers’ to Italy to teach them how to make a “real Italian pizza” or some spaghetti or macaroni carbonara because: “We complain a lot about the aberrations they make with paella, but Spaniards in general also make mistakes with pasta or pizza,” according to Alexis. The Valencian comedians are confident that they will travel to Italy this summer.

“We have discovered that there is a global feeling in the Valencian Community that makes us very angry that paella, being such an international dish, is at the same time so unknown and done so poorly outside our borders,” Alexis Martínez explains to EFE.

confess that They did not expect the “good reaction” that Francesco Aquilea had to the video they recorded making the “vera Italian pizza” and states: “We were a little afraid of how he was going to take it, but he did it with a wonderful sense of humor. In the end, although we play the offensive character, It is still part of entertainment and he also took it that way, and took the opportunity to learn how to make Valencian paella and left Valencia very happy and in love with the city.”

Currently there is a boom with video reactions to poorly made paellas, according to ‘jajajers’, whose video filmed in Camden Town, London, with the sign “No more chorizo ​​in the paella, please”, has accumulated more than 10 million views. reproductions on social networks.