To order a seafood paella for dinner in Valencia, Spain, is to make two mistakes at once in the eyes of locals, who are ever conscious of tradition.First, neither seafood nor fish belongs in a paella. Second, paella is traditionally only served here at lunchtime, preferably on Sundays. Everyone eats together, using wooden spoons straight from the large pan. Paella is more than just a meal; it is a social event and an occasion.Only a tourist would consider such a thing as eating paella in the evening. It sits heavy in your stomach, so it could disrupt a good night’s sleep, especially as people rarely eat here before 9pm.No, in the evening, Valencians prefer to have tapas, maybe at Bar X in the Mercado de Colon, a market hall that ought to be on the itinerary for any visit to Valencia.The Mercado de Colon market hall. Photo: Wolfgang Stelljes/dpaAll about riceValencians have a particularly close relationship with paella. After all, this is the home of the popular rice dish, though strictly speaking, its origins lie a few kilometres further south, in the Albufera. The Albufera is a nature reserve with a freshwater lake, whose water feeds the surrounding rice fields.